…newly re-mastered 4 CD boxset which gathers together the first four legendary albums by Tangerine Dream, originally released on the Ohr label in Germany between 1970 and 1973, known by fans as “The Pink Years” albums.
In April 1973, John Peel wrote that “For my money, Tangerine Dream are the best of the Kosmische Music bands. Whenever any of their extended works are played on the radio there is a heavy mail from listeners. Most of the letter-writers are for it, those that are against it are very against it indeed. A Tangerine Dream track, heard superficially, is little more than a repetitive drone. Closer listening reveals a constantly shifting and evolving pattern – something like Terry Riley’s In C.”
Peel began playing Tangerine Dream on his…

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…radio show in Autumn 1972 and went on to choose their fourth album Atem as his favourite of 1973. Virgin Records’ Richard Branson was paying attention, was also aware of the strong sales of import copies of Tangerine Dream’s albums in his Virgin record shops and, bolstered by his Virgin label’s May 1973 release of Mike Oldfield’s Terry Riley-influenced Tubular Bells, hot-footed it to Germany to sign the band. Phaedra, recorded at Branson’s Manor Studio in November 1973, duly became the Tangerine Dream’s first album for Virgin. It charted in the UK in April 1974, peaking at 15 and stayed on the album charts for 15 weeks.

Crashing into the mainstream charts was extraordinary. The new clamshell box set The Pink Years Albums 1970-1973 collects Tangerine Dream’s first four albums – the ones prior to the Virgin signing – and shows how they got there. That there was a British market for questing German bands was unsurprising: Can and Neu!’s records had been issued in the UK by United Artists, and the former had played the British live circuit. The title of the new release comes from the label colour of the original German versions of the albums. The non-album single “Ultima Thule” is not collected and, although a small poster is included, there is no booklet.

Tangerine Dream’s debut was not by the same band which recorded the Peel favourite Atem and does not sound like it. Recorded in October 1969 in Berlin, Electronic Meditation featured a Tangerine Dream comprising Edgar Froese, Conrad – credited as Conny – Schnitzler and Klaus Schulze. The band’s name nodded to Britain as it was a misheard form of The Beatles’ “tangerine trees”. The music did so too due to its indebtedness to the Pink Floyd of Saucerful of Secrets. A great album and an as-such post-psychedelic classic.

Schnitzler and Schulze then left Froese to pursue their own paths and the reconstituted Tangerine Dream issued Alpha Centauri in 1971. Froese was now joined by Chris Franke and Steve Schroyder, and guest players Udo Dennebourg and Roland Pualyck. Import copies made it their breakthrough with British heads. The lack of overt rhythm and the 13-minute “Fly and Collision of Comas Sola” point to what would attract Peel’s ears but the album is musically fragmented. Side 2’s epic, 22-minute title track does not fully cohere.

For the follow-up, the double album Zeit, Steve Schroyder had been replaced by Peter Baumann. The Froese, Franke and Baumann Tangerine Dream was the one which would physically cross most borders. Schroyder went off to briefly pass through a post-Klaus Schulze Ash Ra Tempel before making solo records. Zeit’s guests musicians include Popul Vuh’s Florian Fricke and four cello players (as well as Schroyder on organ), giving an idea of how the sound had coalesced into a synth-bedded, pastoral-leaning though hard-edged space rock. Another classic. Zeit was followed by the similarly lucid single album Atem and the rest is Kosmische or Krautrock history. — theartsdesk.com

Born Peter Bramall in November 1950, Bram Tchaikovsky first came to prominence as a member of the pub rock band The Motors in 1977, subsequent to playing in several local rock bands in Lincolnshire during the late ‘60s.
Following his decision to leave The Motors, Bram opted to form his own eponymous power pop band, with Mike Broadbent on bass and keyboards, and Keith Boyce on drums. The trio signed to the Radar label in 1978 and went on to achieve a US Top 40 hit in 1979 with ‘Girl of My Dreams’. Several band member changes and two albums later, Bram Tchaikovsky made the decision to split from the band and retire from the music business entirely. This lovingly assembled package, fully endorsed by Bram Tchaikovsky himself, contains…

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…all three Bram Tchaikovsky albums Strange Man, Changed Man (1979), The Russians Are Coming (1980) and Funland (1981), plus all of the band’s singles, b-sides and alternative versions from 1978-1981.
Includes the singles ‘Sarah Smiles’, ‘Lullaby of Broadway’, ‘Girl of My Dreams’, ‘I’m The One That’s Leaving’, ‘Let’s Dance’, ‘Stand & Deliver’ and ‘Shall We Dance?’.

Strange Man, Changed Man

1. Robber (03:11)
2. Strange Man, Changed Man (04:01)
3. Lonely Dancer (03:54)
4. I’m The One That’s Leaving (03:28)
5. Girl Of My Dreams (04:08)
6. Bloodline (03:50)
7. Nobody Knows (04:31)
8. Lady From The USA (03:35)
9. I’m A Believer (03:45)
10. Sarah Smiles (03:39)
11. Turn On The Light (02:50)
12. Goodnight Ladies (Lullaby Of Broadway) (03:20)
13. Rock And Roll Cabaret (02:54)
14. (Who Wants To Be A) Criminal (02:25)
15. Girl Of My Dreams (US Promo Single Version) (03:14)
16. Sarah Smiles (Single Version) (03:48)
17. Turn On The Light (Single Version) (03:10)
18. Bloodline (Single Version) (04:59)

The Russians Are Coming

1. Let’s Dance (05:14)
2. Mr. President (04:08)
3. Missfortune (03:15)
4. Hollywood Nightmare (03:26)
5. Pressure (02:51)
6. The Russians Are Coming (03:27)
7. Heartache (02:53)
8. Letter From The U.S.A. (03:22)
9. Can’t Give You Reasons (03:50)
10. Jeux Sans Frontieres (Games With No Rules) (02:43)
11. New York Paranoia (04:13)
12. Come Back (02:12)
13. Amelia (04:10)
14. Let’s Dance (Single Version) (03:19)
15. Rock And Roll Cabaret (Single Version) (03:16)
16. Mr. President (French Version) (04:06)
17. Robber (Live) (03:21)
18. Whiskey And Wine (Live) (03:35)

Funland

1. Stand And Deliver (03:30)
2. Shall We Dance? (03:07)
3. Heart Of Stone (03:29)
4. Breaking Down The Walls Of Heartache (02:41)
5. Model Girl (04:34)
6. Why Does My Mother Phone Me? (03:31)
7. Used To Be My Used To Be (02:57)
8. Soul Surrender (03:03)
9. Together My Love (03:55)
10. Miracle Cure (02:46)
11. Egyptian Mummies (04:20)
12. Shall We Dance? (Single Version) (02:52)
13. Solid Ball Of Rock (04:06)

Reissues & Remnants features the first two, long out-of-print Son Lux albums, and the NEW album Remnants, a collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings spanning from 2008 to 2017.
Around 2008 Ryan Lott asked himself this question: ”Can I make a pop record that doesn’t rely on a verse/chorus formula?” In many ways Lott’s first two releases as Son Lux represent his response to that query. At War With Walls & Mazes and We Are Rising document one of the most compelling musicians of the 21st century finding a distinctive creative voice, while making strikingly original music along the way.
“Ultimately, I wanted to try writing pop music, and yet abandon some of the conventions of song” …

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…Lott says. “I was obsessed with devising rules that governed my approach. I wasn’t going to use story, or the ebb and flow of verse and chorus. Instead, I sought to create a continually fascinating listening experience that changed from second to second, and explore other means to craft a pop song.”

Lott turned to sonic texture as a source of musical sustenance, crafting a dynamic mosaic of sound inspired by the collagist technique of hip-hop beat makers. “I was culling sounds from disparate places and finding unique and unexpected results. I was trying to reconcile my European classical training with my fascination for pop music, hip-hop, and soul. I was hoping to do that explicitly in the music production, but I was also trying to do it philosophically. I was just a classical music kid that really loved beats,” Lott recalls.

The soundscapes Lott created merged a panoramic symphonic palette with the propulsive rhythmic urgency of hip-hop. The only thing missing was a voice, a role Lott hadn’t intended to fill himself. “Some friends helped me to hear in my own voice something that really worked with the music,” Lott says. “My voice was very fragile and emotive, while instrumentally-speaking the music I was creating was architectural and precise. Somewhere in the combination of those two ideas it all worked. So I became a singer.”

The decision to release At War With Walls & Mazes and We Are Rising on the underground rap label Anticon was natural for Lott. “I thought of what I was doing as hip-hop,” he explains. Lott feels this moment provides a good opportunity to reexamine these releases. “They’ve both been out of print for awhile. But more importantly, I’m proud of the music, and I feel like it set the right foundation for my catalogue as Son Lux, so it makes sense to bring it back on vinyl and shed some light on it now that the project has a broader audience.”

Eleven years after his debut as Son Lux, Joyful Noise Recordings is reissuing these first two works on vinyl.

A decade after inception, Son Lux has now shifted from Lott’s singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar. But Lott’s initial Son Lux recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.

Remnants is a compelling collection of rare and previously unreleased recordings by Son Lux spanning 2008 to 2017. These recordings include pieces commissioned for dance, drastic re-imaginings of existing Son Lux songs, and three outtakes from the first Son Lux release, At War With Walls & Mazes. More than a decade after inception, Son Lux has shifted from Lott’s singular vision into a three-piece ensemble featuring virtuoso musicians Ian Chang on drums, and Rafiq Bhatia on guitar, and Son Lux’s continually evolving recordings still point toward an exciting musical future that contemporary pop music has yet to realize.

At War With Walls & Mazes (2008)
At War With Walls & Mazes (Instrumentals) (2008)
We Are Rising (2011)
We Are Rising (Instrumentals) (2011)
Remnants (2019)

This massive 30-CD box set (nearly 1/3 of which is previously unreleased) includes all 16 of the band’s studio albums and 3 live albums plus copious bonus material including 8 more unheard live sets. Everything has been remastered from band members’ personal tapes as well as masters housed in the Universal and Atlantic archives.
The Vintage Years serves a worthwhile purpose despite having a hint of luxury about it, by reissuing the complete recorded legacy of Wishbone Ash’s classic incarnations. It’s a legacy which merits another moment in the retrospective spotlight: their pioneering use of twin-guitar harmonies influenced Thin Lizzy and Iron Maiden; John Lydon cited them as a favourite of all four original members of PiL and…

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…an inspiration for their debut single; and early convert John Peel called their music “original, exciting and beautifully played.”

Despite recent court battles over the band name, all five original-era members took part in preparing this exhaustive time capsule of their prime and late-’80s reunion, giving a balanced oral history presented in a coffee table book, included alongside 30 CDs, signed photos, and a wealth of reproduced vintage artwork.

The Vintage Years scores in the first instance by applying high quality remastering, adding warmth and volume, to the entire studio output of the classic 70s line-ups, along with Number The Brave, Twin Barrels Burning, Raw To The Bone and the Mark I reunion albums. The two revered Live Dates volumes are present, as are an expanded Live In Tokyo, and eight previously unreleased live albums taken from multi-track recordings made on the Wishbone Four dates, and on subsequent tours between 1976 and 1980, mixed and mastered for this set.

Their early music fused blues, prog, Fairport-style folk, jazz, and vocalist/bassist Martin Turner’s love of Russian classical music, and despite flickers of Peter Green-era Mac, The Who, and the Allmans, they created a singular identity, refined through the debut and Pilgrimage and reaching an early pinnacle with Argus. Wishbone Four’s harder rock disappointed some, but gentler material like Ballad Of The Beacon maintained the continuity.

After Mark II’s first-class first shot There’s The Rub (1974) came career nadir Locked In (1976), a rare Tom Dowd dud, the producer steering them into tepid waters. Fan favourite New England (1976) righted the ship with riffed-up rockers like Runaway and mellow interludes, and Front Page News (1977) offered similar fare, before the curtain fell with No Smoke Without Fire (1978) and Just Testing (1980), strong efforts both, with stirring hard rockers (Living Proof) and more contemporary prog touches (Lifeline). The three reunion albums recorded between 1987 and 1991 (Nouveau Calls, Here To Hear, Strange Affair) bear the production hallmarks of the time, but contained an abundance of melodic gems.

The new live discs are likely to be this set’s main attraction for die-hards, an unvarnished insight into Wishbone Ash’s rare ability to stretch out while keeping the improvisation hypnotic rather than soporific on staples like Phoenix and Persephone, with some tracks arguably outstripping their studio counterparts when fired up onstage. The inclusion of such extensive in-concert material gives a more complete portrayal of their peak years than would be the case were this simply a studio-only retrospective, and with an original-era reunion unlikely,
The Vintage Years is a welcome reminder of a unique band at the height of its powers.

Last October, Cherry Red/Hear No Evil released the 8-CD The Early Years 1971-1977, chronicling REO Speedwagon’s beginning on Epic Records. And now they’re back with the follow-up set: The Classic Years 1978-1990, containing the group’s seven remaining Epic albums and a bonus live disc across 9 CDs, highlighting the period when REO Speedwagon became a household name.
The first album in the box, 1978’s You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, found REO Speedwagon at a time of change. Bassist Gregg Philbin, who had been with the group since 1968 had departed and been replaced by Bruce Hall. Also, the band wished to have more control over their sound which led to lead singer Kevin Cronin and lead guitarist Gary Richrath taking…

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…over as producers (with John Boylan serving as executive producer).  The gambit paid off: You Can Tune became the band’s first album to hit the Top 40, peaking at No. 29.  It also contained the hits “Roll With the Changes” and “Time for Me to Fly.”  “Time” went on to become one of REO Speedwagon’s best known songs.

A bit over a year later, Nine Lives hit store shelves.  It took the band back to a harder sound of their early days.  The LP hit a respectable No. 33 on the charts, but did not sell as well as its predecessor.  The only single off the album, “Only the Strong Survive” (a Richrath original, not the Jerry Butler song) failed to chart.  But REO Speedwagon’s chart fortunes were about to change.

Opting for a more AOR/pop sound, the band released Hi Infidelity in November, 1980.  Most of the tracks on the album were actually just demos with overdubs added.  The band had tried to re-record the songs in the studio but found they couldn’t match the power of their original versions.  Their instincts proved to be correct.  Hi Infidelity would become their biggest hit record, climbing to the top of the charts and becoming the biggest selling rock album of 1981.  It would eventually be certified 10x platinum.  Four singles were released with “Don’t Let Him Go” and “In Your Letter” reaching No. 24 and No. 20, respectively.  But the biggest hits were “Take It On the Run” climbing to No. 5 and “Keep on Loving You,” the power ballad which gave REO Speedwagon their first No. 1 song.

Following up such a massive success is always difficult, and it was no different for REO Speedwagon.  Epic was pressuring them for an album and Good Trouble was released in June, 1982.  Even with more than a year and a half between albums, the band felt the album was rushed, and members including Cronin and Hall relate in the box’s new liner notes that they don’t believe it lived up to expectations.  But the album still did fairly well, peaking at No. 7 on the charts and going 2x platinum with the single “Keep the Fire Burnin’” also hitting No. 7 on the singles chart.  However, perhaps showing the band’s opinion of the album, they haven’t performed a song from it in full other than “Keep the Fire” since 1983.

Taking their time to make sure they got the album they wanted, Wheels Are Turnin’ wasn’t released until November, 1984.  Ironically, Wheels matched Good Times performance on the charts nearly exactly, also peaking at lucky No. 7 and being certified 2x platinum in sales.  But the singles found more success.  “One Lonely Night” would break into the top 20, peaking at No. 19.  The biggest success came with another of the band’s now-signature anthems: “Can’t Fight This Feeling.”  Cronin’s power ballad gave the group their second chart-topper and they would perform the song at 1985’s Live Aid.

More than two years would pass before Life As We Know It was released in February, 1987.  Unfortunately, the results were not on par chart-wise for the band was with their last few albums, not getting into the Top 10 on the album charts, peaking at No. 28.  Two singles found moderate success with “That Ain’t Love” and “In My Dreams” breaking into the Top 20 at Nos. 16 and 19 respectively.

Life would be the group’s final original album of the 1980s and changes were ahead for REO Speedwagon.  Tensions were rising between Cronin and Richrath, who would leave the band in 1988.  One of the last songs on which he played, “Here with Me” from the 1988 compilation The Hits, would be the band’s last Top 20 song to date, hitting No. 20.  Another major personnel change occurred in 1988 as founding member and drummer Alan Gratzer departed the group to spend more time with his family.

Despite the changes, the rest of REO Speedwagon decided to continue on.  Dave Amato (guitar) and Bryan Hitt (drums) were brought in as replacements (several other members also joined for a brief period but did not become permanent members of the group).  Jesse Harms joined as an additional keyboardist and would pen many of the songs for the new lineup’s first album: The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and A Chicken, released in August, 1990.  But the new decade did not bring the same success as the previous one had.  The Earth only climbed to No. 129 on charts.  The lone single to chart was “Love Is a Rock” which hit No. 65 on the pop chart and No. 31 on the rock chart.  And with that, the group’s tenure at Epic was over with the label dropping the band.  Harms left the group in 1991, but the other members have stayed the same in the nearly 30 years since.  In that time, they have released three further studio albums on various labels and continue to tour.

Cherry Red/Hear No Evil’s new box offers a lot of bonus material, with every album except Good Trouble being expanded.  You Can Tune a Piano offers three single versions and the seven track EP “Live Again” from 1978.  Nine Lives and Wheels Are Turnin’ each add several single edits and versions, with Wheels also containing the band’s song for the Goonies soundtrack: “Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright).”  Life As We Know It adds two single edits and two songs from The Hits (the last songs Richrath and Gratzer performed on) while The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and A Chicken is expanded by three single versions and two songs from the 1999 compilation The Ballads.  Hi Infidelity gets the most generous expansion with a whole second disc devoted to bonus content.  Nine demos from the album (first released on a 2011 reissue) are joined by two single edits and five live tracks.  More live material can be heard on the tenth and final disc of the boxset which contains 17 tracks recorded at various locations from 1980 through 1990.

The remastering was done by Tony Dixon at Masterpiece, London and is solid throughout.

Disc 1: You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish (1-9, Epic JE 35082, 1980) single edits (10-12) and Live Again EP (Epic AS-410 (Canada), 1978)

1. Roll with the Changes
2. Time for Me to Fly
3. Runnin’ Blind
4. Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again
5. Sing to Me
6. Lucky for You
7. Do You Know Where Your Woman Is Tonight?
8. The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot
9. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight
10. Roll with the Changes (Short Version) (Epic promo single 8-50545, 1978)
11. Roll with the Changes (Long Version) (Epic promo single 8-50545, 1978)
12. Time for Me to Fly (Edit) (Epic single 8-50582, 1978)
13. Son of a Poor Man (Live)
14. (I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come (Live)
15. Flying Turkey Trot (Live)
16. Keep Pushin’ (Live)
17. Ridin’ the Storm Out (Live)
18. Piano Interlude (Live)
19. 157 Riverside Avenue (Live)

Disc 2: Nine Lives (1-9, Epic FE 35988, 1979) and bonus tracks (10-12) 

1. Heavy On Your Love
2. Drop It (An Old Disguise)
3. Only The Strong Survive
4. Easy Money
5. Rock & Roll Music
6. Take Me
7. I Need You Tonight
8. Meet Me On The Mountain
9. Back On The Road Again
10. Easy Money (Edit) (Epic single 9-50764, 1979)
11. 157 Riverside Avenue (Live) (from A Decade Of Rock and Roll 1970 to 1980 – Epic KE2 36444, 1980)
12. Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live) (from A Decade Of Rock and Roll 1970 to 1980 – Epic KE2 36444, 1980)

Disc 3: Hi Infidelity (Epic FE 36844, 1980)

1. Don’t Let Him Go
2. Keep On Loving You
3. Follow My Heart
4. In Your Letter
5. Take It On The Run
6. Tough Guys
7. Out Of Season
8. Shakin’ It Loose
9. Someone Tonight
10. I Wish You Were There

Disc 4: Hi Infidelity bonus material

1. Someone Tonight (Crystal Demo)
2. Tough Guys (Crystal Demo)
3. In Your Letter (Crystal Demo)
4. Follow My Heart (Crystal Demo)
5. Take It On The Run (Crystal Demo)
6. Don’t Let Him Go (Crystal Demo)
7. Keep On Loving You (Crystal Demo)
8. Shakin’ It Loose (Crystal Demo)
9. I Wish You Were There (Crystal Demo)
10. Don’t Let Him Go (Edit) (Epic single 19-02127, 1980)
11. Take It On The Run (Edit) (Epic single 19-01054, 1980)
12. Don’t Let Him Go (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 4/25-26/1981) (from Live and In Color – Epic AS-1245, 1981)
13. Keep On Loving You (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 4/25-26/1981) (from Live and In Color – Epic AS-1245, 1981)
14. Take It On The Run (Live) (Epic promotional single (NL) PRO-148, 1981)
15. In Your Letter (Live) (Epic promotional single (NL) PRO-148, 1981)
16. Keep On Loving You ’89 (Reggae Version) (from The Second Decade Of Rock and Roll 1981 To 1991 – Epic EK 48527, 1991)

Tracks 1-9 from Hi Infidelity: 30^th Anniversary Edition – Epic/Legacy 88697 69579-2, 2011

Disc 5: Good Trouble (Epic FE 38100, 1982)

1. Keep The Fire Burnin’
2. Sweet Time
3. Girl With The Heart Of Gold
4. Every Now and Then
5. I’ll Follow You
6. The Key
7. Back In My Heart Again
8. Let’s Be-Bop
9. Stillness Of The Night
10. Good Trouble

Disc 6: Wheels Are Turnin’ (1-9, Epic QE 39593, 1984) and bonus tracks (10-15)

1. I Do’ Wanna Know
2. One Lonely Night
3. Through The Window
4. Rock ‘N Roll Star
5. Live Every Moment
6. Can’t Fight This Feeling
7. Gotta Feel More
8. Break His Spell
9. Wheels Are Turnin’
10. I Do’ Wanna Know (Short Version) (Epic promo single 34-04659, 1984)
11. Live Every Moment (Edit) (Epic single 34-05412, 1984)
12. Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright) (Remix) (Epic U.K. single A-6850, 1985)
13. Gotta Feel More (Radio Mix Long Version) (Epic 12″ promo EAS-2091, 1985)
14. Gotta Feel More (Radio Mix Short Version) (Epic 12″ promo EAS-2091, 1985)
15. Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright) (from The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Epic SE 40067, 1985)

Disc 7: Life As We Know It (1-10, Epic FE 40444, 1987) and bonus tracks (11-14)

1. New Way To Love
2. That Ain’t Love
3. In My Dreams
4. One Too Many Girlfriends
5. Variety Tonight
6. Screams and Whispers
7. Can’t Get You Out Of My Heart
8. Over The Edge
9. Accidents Can Happen
10. Tired Of Getting Nowhere
11. Variety Tonight (Edit) (Epic promo single 34-07055, 1987)
12. I Don’t Want To Lose You (from The Hits – Epic OE 44202, 1988)
13. Here With Me (from The Hits – Epic OE 44202, 1988)
14. Here With Me (Radio Edit) (Epic promo single 34-07901, 1988)

Disc 8: The Earth A Small Man His Dog and A Chicken (1-11, Epic E 45246, 1990) and bonus tracks (12-16)

1. Love Is a Rock
2. The Heart Survives
3. Live It Up
4. All Heaven Broke Loose
5. Love In The Future
6. Half Way
7. Love To Hate
8. You Won’t See Me
9. Can’t Lie To My Heart
10. I.A.R.
11. Go For Broke
12. All Heaven Broke Loose (Album Version – More Guitar) (Epic promo single ESK 4186, 1991)
13. All Heaven Broke Loose (Single Version – More Vocal) (Epic promo single ESK 4186, 1991)
14. Just For You (Radio Edit) (Epic/Legacy promo single ESK 42413, 1999)
15. Just For You (from The Ballads – Epic/Legacy EK 69425, 1999)
16. Till The Rivers Run Dry (from The Ballads – Epic/Legacy EK 69425, 1999)

Disc 9: Live Tracks

1. Don’t Let Him Go (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
2. Tough Guys (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
3. Take It On The Run (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
4. I Do’ Wanna Know (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
5. Can’t Fight This Feeling (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
6. Keep The Fire Burning (Live @ MetroCentre, Rockford, IL – 7/15/1983)
7. Roll With The Changes (Live @ MetroCentre, Rockford, IL – 7/15/1983)
8. That Ain’t Love (Live @ Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO – 7/18/1987)
9. Back On The Road Again (Live @ Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI – 1989)
10. Live It Up (Live @ Club Eastbrook, Grand Rapids, MI – 11/23/1990)
11. Roll With The Changes (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 7/2/1981)
12. Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 7/2/1981)
13. Keep On Lovin’ You (Live @ Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN – 12/31/1984)
14. Johnny B. Goode (Live @ Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN – 1/1/1985)
15. Can’t Fight This Feeling (Live @ Club Eastbrook, Grand Rapids, MI – 11/23/1990)
16. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 7/27/1980)
17. Time For Me To Fly (Live @ St. Louis, MO – 7/18/1987)

Tracks 1-10 released on The Second Decade Of Rock and Roll 1981 To 1991 – Epic EK 48527, 1991
Tracks 11-17 released on Setlist: The Very Best Of REO Speedwagon Live – Epic/Legacy 88697 70277-2, 2010)

Synthpop legends Heaven 17‘s Virgin Records recordings are brought together in Play to Win: The Virgin Years, a large format 10CD deluxe set which features all five albums issued in the 1980s, along with over 100 bonus tracks, including demos, B-sides, non-album singles and remixes.
The albums in this new deluxe set are Penthouse and Pavement (1981), The Luxury Gap (1983), How Men Are (1984), Pleasure One (1986) and Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho (1988). Every album has A-sides and B-sides appended and then there’s a whole disc of demos and 4 further CDs of remixes (many of which only saw very limited release).
Original members of Sheffield’s Human League, Martyn Ware and Ian Craig Marsh left after the first two albums and formed Heaven 17 in 1980.

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Named after a fictional band in Anthony Burgess’s “A Clockwork Orange”, they recruited Glenn Gregory on vocals (who had been the original choice for lead singer of the Human League).

Signed to Virgin Records, debut single “(We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang” attracted a lot of attention in March 1981, and a BBC Radio 1 ban. Debut album “Penthouse And Pavement” was released in September 1981 and was certified Gold the following year. Many more chart singles followed, including Top 5 hits “Temptation” and “Come Live with Me”, taken from a further four albums – “The Luxury Gap” (1983), “How Men Are” (1984), “Pleasure One” (1986), and “Teddy Bear, Duke & Psycho” (1988).

CD 1: PENTHOUSE AND PAVEMENT

Pavement Side

1. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang
2. Penthouse And Pavement
3. Play To Win
4. Soul Warfare

Penthouse Side

5. Geisha Boys And Temple Girls
6. Let’s All Make A Bomb
7. The Height Of The Fighting
8. Song With No Name
9. We’re Going To Live For A Very Long Time

Bonus tracks – A-Sides

10. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [7” version]
11. I’m Your Money
12. Play To Win [7” version]
13. Penthouse And Pavement [7” version]
14. The Height Of The Fighting (He-La-Hu)

Bonus tracks – B-Sides

15. The Decline Of The West [by B.E.F]
16. B.E.F. Ident [by B.E.F]
17. Are Everything
18. Play
19. Honeymoon In New York [by B.E.F]
20. He-La-Hu*

CD 2: THE LUXURY GAP

1. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry
2. Who’ll Stop The Rain
3. Let Me Go
4. Key To The World
5. Temptation
6. Come Live With Me
7. Lady Ice And Mr Hex
8. We Live So Fast
9. The Best Kept Secret

Bonus tracks – A-Sides

10. Let Me Go [US 7” version]
11. Temptation [7” version]
12. Come Live With Me [7” version]
13. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Part 1)

Bonus tracks – B-Sides

14. Let Me Go [instrumental]
15. Let’s All Make A Bomb [new version]
16. Song With No Name [new version]
17. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry (Part 2)

CD 3: HOW MEN ARE

1. Five Minutes To Midnight
2. Sunset Now
3. This Is Mine
4. The Fuse
5. Shame Is On The Rocks
6. The Skin I’m In
7. Flamedown
8. Reputation
9. And That’s No Lie

Bonus tracks – A-Sides

10. This Is Mine [7” version]
11. …(And That’s No Lie) [7” version]

Bonus tracks – B-Sides

12. Counterforcce
13. Counterforce II
14. Skin
15. Mine [instrumental]
16. The Heaven 17 Megamix 

CD 4: PLEASURE ONE

1. Contenders
2. Trouble
3. Somebody
4. If I Were You
5. Low Society
6. Red
7. Look At Me
8. Move Out
9. Free

Bonus tracks – A-Sides

10. The Foolish Thing To Do [featuring Jimmy Ruffin] [Version 1]
11. Contenders [7” version]
12. Contenders [US 7” edit]
13. Trouble [7” version]

Bonus tracks – B-Sides

14. My Sensitivity (Gets In The Way) [featuring Jimmy Ruffin]
15. The Foolish Thing To Do [featuring Jimmy Ruffin] [Version 2]
16. The Foolish Thing To Do [featuring Jimmy Ruffin] [instrumental]
17. Excerpts from ‘Diary Of A Contender’

CD 5: TEDDY BEAR, DUKE & PSYCHO 

1. Big Square People
2. Don’t Stop For No One
3. Snake And Two People
4. Can You Hear Me?
5. Hot Blood
6. The Ballad Of Go Go Brown
7. Dangerous
8. I Set You Free
9. Train Of Love In Motion
10. Responsibility
11. The Last Seven Days
12. The Foolish Thing To Do

Bonus tracks – A-Sides

13. The Ballad Of Go Go Brown [version]
14. Train Of Love In Motion [7” version]

Bonus tracks – B-Sides

15. Slow All Over
16. Work
17. Giving Up

CD 6 : DEMONSTRATION DISC: THE LOST DEMOS 1980

1. Penthouse And Pavement [original demo]
2. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [original demo]
3. Play To Win [original demo instrumental]
4. Soul Warfare [original demo]
5. Are Everything [original demo]
6. BEF Ident [alternate version]
7. Decline Of The West [alternate version]
8. Rise Of The East [alternate version]
9. Music To Kill Your Parents By [alternate version]
10. Uptown Apocalypse [alternate version]
11. A Baby Called Billy [alternate version]
12. Rhythmic Experiment 1
13. Rhythmic Experiment 2
14. Boys Of Buddha Experiment
15. At The Height Of The Fighting [original rhythm track]
16. Rhythmic Loop Experiment
17. Funky Experiment
18. Song Experiment
19. Heavy Drum Experiment
20. Play To Win [original demo with vocals]

Bonus tracks

21. Groove Thang
22. Temptation [original demo]

CD 7: SPECIAL FORTIFIED DANCE MIXES TO ENHANCE DANCEABILITY #1

1. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [12” version]
2. I’m Your Money [12” version]
3. Play To Win [12” version]
4. Penthouse And Pavement [12” version]
5. Let Me Go [12” version]
6. Temptation [12” version]
7. Who’ll Stop The Rain [12” version]
8. Come Live With Me [12” version]
9. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry [Parts I & II – uninterrupted single version]
10. Sunset Now [extended version]
11. This Is Mine [extended version]
12. …(And That’s No Lie) [remixed to enhance its danceability]

CD 8: SPECIAL FORTIFIED DANCE MIXES TO ENHANCE DANCEABILITY #2

1. Penthouse And Pavement [Remix]
2. Let Me Go [Endless Version]
3. Play To Win [Endless Version]
4. Contenders [Dance Version]
5. Contenders [Go Go Version]
6. (Big) Trouble
7. The Ballad Of Go-Go Brown [Extended Version]
8. Train Of Love In Motion [The Mainline Mix]
9. Temptation [Brothers In Rhythm Remix]
10. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Rapino Club Mix]
11. Penthouse And Pavement [Tommy D’s Master Remix]
12. Let Me Go [“Hon, Its Flawless” Mix]

CD 9: SPECIAL FORTIFIED DANCE MIXES TO ENHANCE DANCEABILITY #3

1. Play [12” version]
2. Penthouse And Pavement [instrumental 7” version]
3. Penthouse And Pavement [instrumental 12” version]
4. Who’ll Stop The Rain [US dub version]
5. We Live So Fast [12” version]
6. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry [dub version]
7. Crushed By The Wheels Of Industry [The Extended Dance Version]
8. This Is Mine [Filmix]
9. This Is Mine [Cinemix]
10. Contenders [US Club Mix]
11. Trouble [US Club Mix]

CD10: SPECIAL FORTIFIED DANCE MIXES TO ENHANCE DANCEABILITY#4

1. Temptation [Brothers In Rhythm Remix Edit]
2. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Rapino Edit]
3. Penthouse And Pavement [Tommy D’s Master Edit]
4. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Democratic Edit]
5. Let Me Go [I Trance Alone Mix]
6. Temptation [Brothers In Rhythm instrumental]
7. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Democratic Rapino]
8. Penthouse And Pavement [Mr Big Buckles And His Amazing Ride]
9. Temptation [7″ backing track]
10. (We Don’t Need This) Fascist Groove Thang [Democratic Instrumental]
11. Penthouse And Pavement [Original Vibe Mix]
12. Let Me Go [Let Me House You]
13. Penthouse And Pavement [D’s Super Disco Dub Mix]
14. Temptation [Orchestral Theme From Temptation]

For over 50 years, singer-songwriter and musician Iain Matthews has carved his own niche, fusing his own mix of well-crafted songs drawing on folk-rock, Americana, soft rock and other influences.
Orphans and Outcasts reviews three volumes of his long-deleted rarities series, adding a newly-curated fourth CD of previously unissued rarities from more recent times, bringing the project right up-to-date.
The box set covers Iain’s entire career, from mid-’60s rarities with Pyramid and recordings from around the time of his breakthrough with Matthews Southern Comfort to a handful of rarities by folk-rock favourites Plainsong and a plethora of solo material. Compiled and annotated by Iain himself, Orphans and Outcasts is a very personal trawl through the back pages of a remarkable…

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…musical biography.

Discs 1-3 have now been remastered; and everything on Disc 4 is previously unissued.

Orphans and Outcasts also boasts a multitude of impressive musicians who have worked with Iain down the years, including Richard Thompson, Andy Roberts, Viv Stanshall, Mark ‘Griff’ Griffiths, Pat Donaldson, Gerry Conway, Ian Whiteman, Jerry Donahue, Timmi Donald, David Surkamp, Mark Hallman and many others.

1. Touch Her If You Can (Outtake) [03:33]
2. Yankee Lady (Outtake) [04:52]
3. Belle (Outtake) [01:58]
4. Later On (Outtake) [01:22]
5. I Believe in You (Radio Recording) [04:40]
6. It Takes a Lot to Laugh (Radio Session) [04:50]
7. Not Much at All (Radio Session) [03:56]
8. Baby Ruth (Radio Session) [03:01]
9. Hearts (Radio Session) [03:07]
10. Christine’s Tune (Outtake) [02:23]
11. Seeds and Stems (Radio Session) [04:00]
12. Spanish Guitar (Radio Session) [05:30]
13. Tigers Will Survive (Radio Session) [05:04]
14. Any Day Woman (Radio Session) [02:32]
15. Poor Ditching Boy (Outtake) [03:07]
16. Even the Guiding Light (Live in Kalamazoo, 1974) [03:01]
17. So Sad (Demo) [03:51]
18. Groovin’ (Demo) [03:03]
19. Iain Matthews / Bill Lamb – Let There Be Blues (Demo) [04:13]
20. New Shirt (Songwriting Memo) [03:11]
21. S.O.S. (Demo) [02:37]
22. What Do You Wish You Could Be (Songwriting Demo) [04:30]
23. Perfect Timing (Songwriting Demo) [04:02]
24. Voices (Songwriting Demo) [04:11]
25. Action (Demo) [04:08]
26. Change (Demo) [03:40]
27. Rendezvous (Songwriting Demo) [03:31]
28. What the Wanter Wants (Demo) [03:10]
29. Action and Intent (Demo) [02:50]
30. Too Hard Too Soon (Demo) [03:13]
31. Steady (Demo) [04:06]
32. Your Heart Again (Demo) [04:14]
33. Still I See You (Demo) [03:47]
34. We Don’t Talk Anymore (Songwriting Demo)[04:15]
35. Rains of ’62 (Alternate Take) [04:33]
36. Mercy Street (Demo) [04:09]
37. Better Not Stay (Demo) [04:55]
38. Perfect Timing (Demo) [04:26]
39. Hearts (Radio Recording) [03:26]
40. Home (Radio Recording) [03:48]
41. Never Ending (Radio Recording) [02:45]
42. I’ll Fly Away (Demo) [00:39]
43. Sing Senorita (Outtake) [03:21]
44. On the Beach (Outtake) [04:02]
45. This Fabrication (Demo) [03:31]
46. Except for a Tear (Demo) [04:38]
47. Next Time Around (Songwriting Demo) [04:36]
48. God’s Empty Chair (Songwriting Demo) [03:54]
49. Jaques and Tambo [03:54]
50. Spirits (Radio Recording) [03:52]
51. Me About You [03:10]
52. Woodstock (Modern Remix) [04:34]
53. Sing Sister Sing (Live in Nijmegen, 1997) [05:17]
54. Seven Bridges Road (Live, The Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles, 1988) [04:47]
55. Let Me Live Until I See You Again (Demo) [03:44]
56. Nothing’s Changed (Demo) [04:00]
57. Voices (Demo) [04:42]
58. Restless Wings (Demo) [04:33]
59. Leaving Alone (Demo) [04:04]
60. Ballad of Gruene Hall (Songwriting Demo)[04:42]
61. Rooted to the Spot (Songwriting Demo) [03:42]
62. Even If It Kills Me (Songwriting Demo) [04:10]
63. Horse Left in the Rain (Demo) [04:54]
64. Anchor Me (Songwriting Demo) [03:08]
65. Something Mighty (Outtake) [05:06]
66. Your Own Way of Forgetting (Outtake) [03:56]
67. Mr Soul (Demo) [03:28]
68. Living in Reverse (Songwriting Demo) [04:50]
69. Stranded (Demo) [04:14]

Just as American jazz musicians of the ’50s headed off to jam sessions following their last sets at clubs, Cuban musicians did the same in Havana. Between 1956 and 1964, musicians who dressed in guarachera shirts to play for tourists in hotels slipped into button-down shirts and slacks after at 3 a.m. and headed off to the studios of Ramón Sabat’s Panart Records. There, a dozen or so guests who weren’t due to play stood along the studio’s parameter enjoying the music. Musicians and guests were fueled by rum and cola, resulting in a party atmosphere. The results were five albums entitled Cuban Jam Session Vol. 1-5.
Vol. 1 was recorded in 1956 and was led by pianists Julio Gutiérrez and Pedro Justiz. Vol. 2 was recorded in 1957 and was led by the same…

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…musicians as Vol. 1. Vol. 3 was recorded in 1962 in Havana, despite Fidel Castro’s 1959 revolution. It was led by be-bop influenced tres player Niño Rivera. Vol. 4 was recorded in 1957 and was led by bassist Israel “Cachao” Lopez. And Vol. 5, led by flutist Jose Fajardo, was recorded in New York in 1964. By then, Sabat presumably had fled Cuba.

Now, Craft Recordings has released the Complete Cuban Jam Sessions in a five-CD or five-LP box set. The music on these discs provide insight into the development of Latin jazz by Cuban musicians before, during and away from the Castro regime. As you’ll hear, the music has strong, rich rhythms but there’s a quaint lyricism as well. It’s also not as explosively mambo-centric as American Cuban music of the period, emphasizing instead individual soloists and the more subtle and nuanced traditional, countryside forms.

To quote from the liner notes: “The Cuban Jam Sessions collectively feature a line-up that to today’s aficionados of Cuban music and Latin jazz could seem simply unbelievable, including not only many of the most forward-thinking Cuban musicians of the era but many of the greatest of all time.” — AllAboutJazz

Personnel:
Discs One and Two: Julio Gutiérrez: piano; Pedro “Peruchín” Jústiz: piano; Alejandro “El Negro” Vivar: trumpet; Edilberto Scrich: alto saxophone; Osvaldo “Mosquifin” Urrutia: baritone saxophone; Emilio Peñalver: tenor saxophone; José “Chombo” Silva: tenor saxophone; Juan Pablo Miranda: flute; Salvador Vivar: contrabass; Jesus “Chucho” Esquijarroa: timbales; Oscar Valdés: bongo; Marcelino Valdés: tumbadora; Walfredo de los Reyes: drums; plus other unknown guitarist
Disc Three: Niño Rivera: tres; Orestes López: piano; Alejandro “El Negro” Vivar: trumpet; Emilio Peñalver: tenor saxophone; Richard Egües: flute; Salvador Vivar: contrabass; Guillermo Barreto: timbales; Rogelio “Yeyo” Iglesias: bongos; Tata Güines: tumbadora; Gustavo Tamayo: güiro
Disc Four: Israel “Cachao” Lopez: contrabass; Alejandro “El Negro” Vivar: trumpet; Guillermo Barreto: drums; Rogelio “Yeyo” Iglesias: bongos; Tata Güines: tumbadora; Gustavo Tamayo: güiro; Additional musicians: Generoso “Toto” Jiménez: trombone (1, 2); Gustavo Tamayo: güiro; Emilio Peñalver: tenor saxophone (4); Virgilio Lisama: baritone saxophone (4); Emilio Peñalver: tenor saxophone; Niño Rivera: tres (5); Orestes López: piano (6); Richard Egües: flute (5)
Disc Five: José Fajardo: flute; Walfredo de los Reyes: drums; Israel “Cachao” López: contrabass; with unknown Cuban musicians during Cuban session; Salvador Vivar: contrabass; Julio Gutiérrez: piano; Marcelino Valdés: congas; Chihuahua: guiro; plus other unknown musicians: various instruments

ZTT’s Element series has seen numerous reissues in the form of deluxe edition albums, new compilations and the occasional single since its conception when the label started to reboot its back catalogue in 2010. Daft As A Brush! is Art of Noise‘s latest entry to the series, catalogued as Element 46 and is an exclusive Record Store Day 2019 release.
This four 12″ vinyl set includes previously unreleased tracks along with others appearing on vinyl for the first time. Commencing with Beat Box (Diversions One to Six) we get the original 12″ Beat Box (Diversions One and Two) on side one with Diversions Three through to Six on side two. Diversions Three and Four were first released on a New Musical Express cassette entitled…

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…Department Of Enjoyment in 1984. It was always a mystery as to why it never came out as a companion remix to the original 12″. Now for the first time we can hear those two tracks alongside the original two with Diversion Five and Six, giving the listener a chance to enjoy the multipart series of Beat Box as a whole.

The second disc,Closer (To The Edit) traces the development of Close (To The Edit) that was itself a spin-off from Beat Box (Diversion Two). Kicking off with (St)art Of Noise, one is transported through an alterative journey through Art of Noise’s biggest hit on ZTT as Close (To The Edge) via A Time To Hear (Who’s Listening), ‘Listen In’ and ‘Listen Out’. Ironically Close (To The Edit) was never reissued as a single after its initial releases around the world, so to get it as part of this set will be a dream come true for many fans.

Disc three, (Share) Moments In Love. Over the years Moments In Love has been reissued in one form or another, either as a standard re-release, picture disc, coloured 12″ vinyl or as remixed editions and has appeared on numerous compilations since its original outing as part of Into Battle With The Art Of Noise. To some fans it has been re-released to death, for others it is a cult track gaining evermore popularity with it being played as part of chillout sessions in clubs, or sampled by other artists. This edition should appeal to everyone. The content on this record is exclusive to this set and contains Moments In Love (Original, Part One), Memento (Hymnal, Part One), Moment In Love (Spring Flowers), ‘To The Death… For Life’, Moments In Love (Original, Part Two), Memento (Hymnal Part Two), Autumn Leaves and ‘For Life… To The Death’.

Disc four contains non-Art of Noise material by Trevor Horn and Paul Morley under the moniker Art & ACT, entitled Life’s A Barrell Of Laughs. This failed/abandoned project was created when they tried to carry on as a sort of AoN II after the three key members, Anne Dudley, JJ Jeczalik, Gary Langan left ZTT and were enjoying commercial success around the world. The selection of tracks included here unintentionally disproves the early myth that Horn and Morley were the actual geniuses behind the group as the recordings lack the innovative ideas that were unique to Art of Noise. In some ways these tracks could have easily of been part of a third Buggles album, but to others can be heard as the forerunner to The Seduction Of Claude Debussy period that would see them reunite with Dudley alongside Lol Creme in the late 1990s as Art of Noise*. This disc nicely rounds off Horn and Morley’s involvement with the AoN’s early years as a project that had potential but never got off the ground. It is nice to hear all of these tracks in one place instead of being scattered over various releases as it gives the project some depth and meaning.

Overall this box set is a welcome addition to the Art of Noise’s catalogue spanning almost thirty five years. The sound quality throughout this four part set is second to non. It is a joy to listen to all of these tracks on the intended format they were originally to have been released upon. As with all of the previous Element series releases, Ian Peel has compiled a set that mixes old favourites, with previously unreleased material that perfectly compliment each other, along with his informative sleeve notes show just how much care and thought has gone into the making of this set. Philip Marshall has done an excellent job with the design of the whole package, being faithful to the original XLZTT ethos and adding a new twist to it. Daft As A Brush! is a testament to Art of Noise’s two year stint at Zang Tumb Tuum from 1983 to 1985 before “they dressed themselves” and showcases why they have been influential to many of the acts that have followed since their inception.

Daft as a Brush! (RSD 2019) Vinyl

Beat Box Diversions One To Six
01. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion One) (8:30)
02. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion Two) (6:03)
03. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion Three) (5:37)
04. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion Four) (1:18)
05. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion Five) (3:46)
06. Art Of Noise – Beat Box (Diversion Six) (3:55)

Closer (To The Edit)
07. Art Of Noise – (St)art Of Noise (1:16)
08. Art Of Noise – Close (To The Edge) (6:03)
09. Art Of Noise – A Time To Hear (Who’s Listening?) (3:33)
10. Art Of Noise – ‘listen Out’ (1:04)
11. Art Of Noise – Close (To The Edge) (7″ Mix) (2:21)
12. Art Of Noise – A Time To Hear (We’re Listening!) (1:27)
13. Art Of Noise – ‘listen In’ (1:58)

(Share) Moments In Love
14. Art Of Noise – Moments In Love (Original, Part One) (6:15)
15. Art Of Noise – Memento (Hymnal, Part One) (1:25)
16. Art Of Noise – The Spring Flowers (2:13)
17. Art Of Noise – ‘to The Death… For Life’ (1:56)
18. Art Of Noise – Moments In Love (Original, Part Two) (2:23)
19. Art Of Noise – Memento (Hymnal, Part Two) (1:49)
20. Art Of Noise – The Autumn Leaves (2:42)
21. Art Of Noise – ‘for Life… To The Death’ (1:16)

Life’s A Barrel Of Laughs
22. Art & Act – Life’s A Barrel Of Laughs (Out Of This World) (8:04)
23. Art & Act – Yes Or No (Yes!) (0:55)
24. Art & Act – This Is Your Life (Tk. 6 – Tch Vox) (2:00)
25. Art & Act – This Is Your Life (Tk. 3 – M Vox) (4:36)
26. Art & Act – Yes Or No (No?) (4:09)

…new compilation featuring more than 20 un- released A Certain Ratio songs among its 54 tracks.
Following on from 2018’s compilation, acr:set, the box showcases the diversity of the singles, B-sides and alternative versions of tracks that A Certain Ratio have released but without repeating tracks recently made available. acr:box collates everything that fans had been missing from the recent reissue campaign and compliments that with a selection found after a deep delve into the archive to find all the hidden gems that had been talked about over the years but never heard – even a few releases the band had forgotten about.
Looking to make the box set as comprehensive as possible, even the original tapes from the session they recorded for a collaboration…

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…with Grace Jones were uncovered and reworked. This session includes the cover version of Talking Heads’ ‘Houses In Motion’, using Jez Kerr’s guide vocals (pre to him becoming the band’s singer). Grace Jones never completed her vocal take after attending one of the recording sessions with the band.

The box set, which marks the 40th anniversary of A Certain Ratio’s debut release, the Martin Hannett produced ‘All Night Party’ (Factory Records’ first single release) was described recently by Record Collector as “a statement of future intentions: to set funk off against nervous angst.” They went on to be hailed universally as pioneers of what became known as ‘punk funk’ thanks to the success of their second single, ‘Shack Up’, represented here via a radio edit from Electronic, featuring Bernard Sumner and Johnny Marr.

Singles and B-sides
1 All Night Party
2 The Thin Boys
3 Blown Away
4 Son And Heir
5 Waterline
6 Funaezekea
7 Abracadubra
8 Sommadub
9 Guess Who? (12″
10 Tumba Rumba
11 Knife Slits Water (12″ version)
12 Kether Hot Knives (Mix In Special)
13 I Need Someone Tonight
14 Don’t You Worry ‘Bout a Thing
15 Life’s a Scream
16 There’s Only This
17 Si Fermir O Grido (Touch Cassette Version)
18 Brazilia 6.10
19 Sounds Like Something Dirty
20 The Runner (Greetings Four Version)
21 Inside (Greetings Four Version)
22 Bootsy (Greetings Four Version)
23 Fever 103 (Greetings Four Version)
24 Loosen Up Your Mind
25 The Planet
26 Turn Me on (7″ Edit)
27 27 Forever (Jon Dasilva’s Testimonial Mix)
28 Shack up (Electronic Radio Edit)

Unreleased content
29 Houses In Motion (Demo Version 1)
30 Houses In Motion (Demo Version 2)
31 And Then Again (Another version)
32 Piu Lento (John Peel Session)
33 Nostromo A Go Go (Demo)
34 Force (Demo)
35 Backs to The Wall (Demo)
36 The Big E (Demo)
37 Every Pleasure (Demo)
38 Rivers Edge (Demo)
39 Stadium (Demo)
40 Thin Grey Line (Demo)
41 Repercussions (African Mix)
42 BTTW 90 (Demo)
43 Spirit Dance (Demo)
44 Bitter Pill (Never Released)
45 It’s Trippin When I’m Fine (Previously Unreleased)
46 Mello (JD 800 Perc Mix)
47 Tekno 4 an Answer (120bpm)
48 Samba 123 (Demo)
49 Some Day (ACR rework)
50 Happy Meal (Working Title)
51 Flight Won’t Stop (Unfinished Demo)
52 Fruit Song (Unfinished Demo)
53 Say What You Mean (Unfinished Demo)
54 W.S.L.U.

“Basically, I went through 30 or 40 different shows,” underground guitar legend East Bay Ray says of DK40, the new triple-disc box set documenting the live fury of San Francisco’s Dead Kennedys, the punk band he founded in 1978.
The three shows number among the best tapes Ray’s found from across DK’s history: Amsterdam’s Paradiso club and Munich’s Alabama Halle in 1982 and San Francisco’s The Farm in 1985. This ensures DK’s classic lineup-iconoclastic singer Jello Biafra, Ray, bassist Klaus Flouride and drummer D.H. Peligro-achieves crucial documentation of the era when they were American punk’s most potent voice of dissent. “Most of them were easy to eliminate because they were board tapes,” Ray says, born Raymond John Pepperell 60 years ago…

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…in Oakland, California. “So it was usually just kick drum and voice, which was musically not that interesting. But these three were radio broadcasts, so you could hear the bass, the guitar—all the parts of the Dead Kennedys’ music. Klaus and D.H. are great players, but what sets bands apart are usually the singer and all the musical parts. In the Dead Kennedys’ case, the musical part is the guitar. So if you don’t have any guitar in there, it’s not a Dead Kennedys song, in my view.”

The Munich disc’s especially notable as the first official release of 1983’s notorious Skateboard Party bootleg, once the most widely circulated, high-quality document of DK’s live fury. If all the Skateboard Party cassette dubs passed hand to hand around the ’80s punk world could’ve been tallied, Dead Kennedys would probably have earned a platinum record.

“That was a broadcast in Germany,” Ray recalls. “I asked them to tape some, and I went into the sound booth and helped them remix it. So you could hear the bass, the voice, the guitar, the snare and kick. It’s difficult to get those five things balanced. Punk is difficult to mix, because the voice, the guitar and the snare are all aggressive and in the midrange, so it takes a bit of work to differentiate them.”

Dead Kennedys differentiated themselves upon birth from U.S. punk first-wave shock troops such as the Ramones or Dead Boys. It wasn’t simply their brutal blend of ramalama pogo energy with anything from surf instrumentals to psychedelia to 99-cent-bin exotica. It was also their lyrical content. Even SF predecessors such as the Nuns and the Avengers only shared a negationist streak with more political U.K. cousins such as the Sex Pistols. Early classics such as “California Über Alles” and “Holiday In Cambodia” saw Biafra applying sick, Alice Cooper-esque B-movie horror/humor to topics yanked straight from headlines.

As the suburbs overwhelmingly voted Ronald Reagan into the White House in 1980, American punk went political overnight. It became hardcore. Dead Kennedys, with their shocking name echoing the first shattering event in the ’60s timeline and their gonzoid anti-authoritarian tunes, rocketed to the forefront of U.S. mohawk culture. The band correspondingly accelerated to thrash tempos after sharing bills with new breed vanguard acts such as Bad Brains and Black Flag.

“All four of us listened to different music,” Ray muses of the band’s musical alchemy. “Then when we would get together to write songs, it was 2+2=5… [Altpress]

Live At Paradiso, Amsterdam, Netherlands, December 5, 1982

1 Moral Majority
2 I Am The Owl
3 Life Sentence
4 Police Truck
5 Riot
6 Bleed For Me
7 Holiday In Cambodia
8 Let’s Lynch The Landlord
9 Chemical Warfare
10 Nazi Punks Fuck Off
11 Kill The Poor
12 We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now
13 Too Drunk To Fuck

Live At Alabama Halle, Munich, Germany, December 13th, 1982

1 Skateboard Talk + Intro Noise
2 Man With The Dogs
3 Forward To Death
4 Kepone Factory
5 Life Sentence
6 Trust Your Mechanic
7 Moral Majority
8 Forest Fire
9 Winnebago Warrior
10 Police Truck
11 Bleed For Me
12 Holiday In Cambodia
13 Let’s Lynch The Landlord
14 Chemical Warfare
15 Nazi Punks Fuck Off
16 We’ve Got A Bigger Problem Now
17 Too Drunk To Fuck
18 Kill The Poor

Live At The Farm, San Francisco, California, May 24th, 1985

1 Darren’s Mom
2 Goons Of Hazzard
3 Hellnation
4 This Could Be Anywhere
5 Soup Is Good Food
6 Chemical Warfare
7 Macho Insecurity
8 A Growing Boy Needs His Lunch
9 Forest Fire
10 Moon Over Marin
11 Jock-O-Rama
12 Encore
13 Stars And Stripes Of Corruption
14 Second Encore
15 MTV Get Off The Air
16 Holiday In Cambodia

It is no coincidence that folk singer, songwriter and social activist Pete Seeger (1919-2014) turns up as one of the important voices on the recently released Smithsonian Folkways box set The Social Power of Music (2019). Seeger, one of the towering figures of American folk music, believed in songs as tools that could transform society bit by bit, but he also subscribed to the social aspect of songs. The songs he played were written by the people and for the people, folk music in the truest sense of the word.
When he himself composed, he found a balance between straightforward language and poetry that can be recognized in the folk songs. The balance between innocence and experience is expressed profoundly in one of his most famous compositions, “Where Have All the Flowers Gone.”

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That song and many more are part of a massive collection in his honor released by Smithsonian Folkways, simply titled Pete Seeger: The Smithsonian Folkways Collection. The box set follows two other hefty musical monographs released by Smithsonian Folkways, covering the work of Woody Guthrie and Leadbelly. They both laid the foundation for Seeger, and he picked up the baton and continued to play their music. He even turned Lead Belly’s song “Goodnight, Irene” into a smash-hit with his group The Weavers, but making the charts was not his goal.

Seeger wanted to communicate to and with the people, and often he did so armed only with a banjo or a guitar. He sang to children, young people and old people. He sang to everyone and made everyone sing. One of the highlights of the set is the waves of voices that wash from the audience choir on a beautiful version of the folk song “The Water is Wide.”

Seeger sang with the audience, but he also sang about something, the fight against racism, poverty, war and all kinds of inequality. Seeger was an environmentalist before it became fashionable, and sang about the pollution of the Hudson River in “My Dirty Stream (The Hudson River Song)”; unfortunately a song like “Garbage” is still relevant today, and the same can be said about many of the issues Seeger sings about. He was not afraid of delivering a message. He was a singer and songwriter, but also a teacher and instructor, who even wrote a book about how to play the banjo. To Seeger, music was empowerment and he picked up songs, wrote them and shared them.

The box set tells Pete Seeger’s story in song across six discs and 137 tracks, 20 previously unreleased. — AllAboutJazz

Personnel: Pete Seeger: vocals, banjo, guitar, axe, percussion; recorder, bass; Lee Hays: vocals; Bess Lomax Hawes: lead vocal, vocals; Tom Glazer: vocals; Butch Hawes: vocals, guitar; Alan Lomax: vocals; Brownie McGhee: vocals, guitar; Burls Ives: vocals; Sonny Terry: harmonica; Josh White: vocals, guitar; Lou Kleinman: vocals, piano; Dock Reese: vocals; Hally Wood: vocals; Bob Claiborne: vocals; Mary Travers: vocals; Erik Darling: vocals; Tom Geraci: vocals; Millard Lampell: vocals; Sam Gary: vocals; Carol White: vocals; Memphis Slim: vocals, piano; Willie Dixon: vocals, bass; Ed Renehan: vocals, guitar; William Edward Cook: washboard; Frank Robertson: bass; Mike Seeger: vocals, autoharp; Frank Hamilton: vocals, guitar; Fred Hellerman: guitar; Tao Rodriguez-Seeger: vocals; David Amram: dumbek; Peggy Seeger: vocals; Barbara Seeger: vocals; Penny Seeger: vocals; Calum MacColl: vocals; Neill MacColl: vocals; Sonya Cohen: vocals.

Few music festivals are as rich, profound, and joyous as the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, now entering its 50th year. With 50 tracks recorded live, Jazz Fest captures the festival’s ecstatic spontaneity, which defines the essence and vitality of American popular music.
Ever since its inception a half century ago, Jazz Fest has exuberantly expressed the unique confluence in New Orleans of Native American, African, Caribbean, European, Hispanic, and Asian communities. With essays and annotations by Keith Spera, Karen Celestan, Robert Cataliotti, Jeff Place, Rachel Lyons, and Jon Pareles, plus photos spanning the festival’s history, this box set delivers the sights and sounds of being at Jazz Fest for those who have not yet been there…

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…and rekindles memories for the hundreds of thousands who return to New Orleans year after year.

CD1:

1. the Golden Eagles – Indian Red (Live) [04:03]
2. Larry McKinley – Welcome to the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival (Live)[00:09]
3. Trombone Shorty – One Night Only (The March) (Live) [03:27]
4. Donald Harrison, Jr. – Free to Be (Live) [08:39]
5. Danny Barker – Basin Street Blues (Live) [06:23]
6. Terence Blanchard – A Streetcar Named Desire (Live) [09:03]
7. Kermit Ruffins Big Band – Royal Garden Blues (Live) [05:47]
8. Champion Jack Dupree – Bring Me Flowers While I’m Living / Rub a Little Boogie (Live)[09:52]
9. George Wein – Back Home Again in Indiana (Live) [06:31]
10. John Boutte – Louisiana 1927 (Live) [07:11]

CD2:

1. Allen Toussaint – Yes We Can Can (Live) [04:51]
2. Earl King – Trick Bag (Live) [04:56]
3. Irma Thomas – Ruler of My Heart (Live) [03:04]
4. Snooks Eaglin – Dizzy Miss Lizzy (Live) [03:54]
5. Clarence “Frogman” Henry – Ain’t Got No Home (Live) [06:31]
6. The White Eagles – Big Chief Got the Golden Crown (Live)[07:29]
7. Professor Longhair – Big Chief (Live) [03:49]
8. Dixie Cups – Iko Iko / Brother John / Saints Go Marching In (Live)[07:02]
9. Marcia Ball – Red Beans (Live) [05:14]
10. Dr. John – Litanie Des Saints / Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya / I Walk on Gilded Splinters (Live)[12:03]

CD3:

1. Ray Hackett – How Ya Gonna Clap? (Live) [00:22]
2. The Dirty Dozen Brass Band – Blackbird Special (Live) [07:30]
3. Henry Butler – Hey Now, Baby (Live) [06:23]
4. Germaine Bazzle – Secret Love (Live) [08:54]
5. Al Belletto Big Band – Jazznocracy (Live) [05:14]
6. Original Liberty Jazz Band – Summertime (Live) [07:36]
7. Preservation Hall Jazz Band – My Bucket’s Got a Hole in It (Live)[07:19]
8. The Zion Harmonizers – I Want to Be at That Meeting / Golden Gate Gospel Train (Live)[07:48]
9. Irma Thomas – Old Rugged Cross (Live) [04:13]
10. Raymond Myles – Can’t Nobody Do Me Like Jesus (Live) [06:42]
11. Johnson Extension – I Can Go to God in Prayer (Live) [06:57]

CD4:

1. Buckwheat Zydeco – Hard to Stop (Live) [09:59]
2. Boozoo Chavis – Paper in My Shoe (Live) [03:32]
3. The Savoy Family Cajun Band – Midland Two-Step (Live) [03:49]
4. Bruce Daigrepont – [04:29]
5. BeauSoleil – Recherche D’acadie (Live) [04:24]
6. The Neville Brothers – Yellow Moon (Live) [07:16]
7. John Campbell – When the Levee Breaks (Live) [06:18]
8. John Mooney – It Don’t Mean a Doggone Thing (Live) [05:06]
9. Kenny Neal – Starlight Diamond / Jimmy Reed Medley: You Don’t Have to Go / Baby, What You Want Me to Do / Going to New York / Honest I Do (Live)[13:05]
10. Allen Toussaint – What is Success (Live) [06:15]
11. Tommy Ridgley – Double-Eyed Whammy (Live) [03:46]

CD5:

1. Funky Meters – Fire on the Bayou (Live) [09:19]
2. Clarence Gatemouth Brown – Take the “a” Train (Live) [04:27]
3. Walter Wolfman Washington – Blue Moon Rising (Live) [07:00]
4. Deacon John – Happy Home (Live) [05:08]
5. Larry McKinley – Rain Alert (Live) [00:17]
6. Sonny Landreth – Blue Tarp Blues (Live) [05:40]
7. Anders Osborne – Back on Dumaine (Live) [06:25]
8. The Subdudes – Thorn in Her Side (Live) [04:57]
9. Big Freedia – N.O. Bounce (Live) [03:23]
10. Wild Magnolias – Smoke My Peace Pipe (Live) [07:04]
11. The Neville Brothers – Amazing Grace / One Love (Live) [07:46]

It is no exaggeration to state that Jack Bruce was probably the most inventive bassist of the twentieth century. He straddled the worlds of jazz, blues and rock seamlessly, and his bass guitar playing was unprecedented in its sheer imaginative breadth and power. Crucially, he was also a vocalist of incredible range and dynamism. His contribution to Cream surely needs no elaboration. As a rock star he was a veritable human dynamo, but as a jazz musician he was extraordinary too. He played a pivotal role on Carla Bley’s seminal work Escalator Over the Hill (1971), where he also played bass guitar alongside his old friend John McLaughlin who had previously appeared on Bruce’s pukka jazz album, Things We Like (Polydor, 1970; Atco, 1971). Bruce died, at the age of 71, on 25 October 2014,…

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…yet his memory and music are still very much alive, as this magnificent box set demonstrates.

Following the CD and DVD package Rockpalast: The 50th Birthday Concerts (MIG, 2014) and the earlier DVD set Jack Bruce at Rockpalast (Studio Hamburg Fernseh Allianz, 2005) this is the first CD release of these earlier German concerts, but they’re also accompanied by the DVD discs.

As CD1 opens to the familiar strains of “White Room,” what immediately hits the listener is the thumping resonance of Bruce’s long scale bass guitar which showed no signs of diminishing since his departure from Cream over a decade before. Punctuating the more rock-based numbers such as “Hit And Run” there are the subtle gems which demonstrated Bruce’s unique and exceptional talent not just as a musician but as a composer. “Theme For An Imaginary Western” from Songs for a Tailor (Polydor, 1969) is one such example as is “Post War” from Harmony Row (Polydor, 1971). Then, fairly obviously, is the quintessential rock anthem for the ages, “Sunshine of Your Love.” The first two CDs capture Bruce’s 1980 concert with the same line-up that appeared on I’ve Always Wanted to Do This (Epic, 1980). The set is populated by seven of the numbers from that album, including “Hit And Run” and “Facelift 318,” but undoubtedly the most impressive number, as found on CD2, is an extended version of the electrifying “Bird Alone” (dedicated to Charlie Parker) which runs to twice the length of the original. Here, Bruce introduced more of his trademark twists and turns which so infused his earliest, and arguably, most memorable albums. But in addition to those tracks and five Cream numbers, there’s also Billy Cobham’s high-voltage instrumental “X Marks The Spot.”

CD3 follows, but not in chronological order, since it’s a 1990 solo set featuring Bruce predominantly playing piano and singing. Nevertheless it’s something of an ear-opener. The short instrumental “Outsiders” is followed by the plaintive “Can You Follow?” from Harmony Row, segueing into the bluesy “Third Degree.” It is also fascinating to hear songs like “Doing That Scrapyard Thing” from Cream’s farewell Goodbye album (Polydor, 1969) which Bruce successfully manages to perform live despite the original version being a complex multi-tracked number. The lyrical pathos of “Weird Of Hermiston” is actually enhanced by Bruce’s singing, accompanied only by piano, and the magic remains on “Ticket To Waterfalls.” There’s a brief diversion from piano with Bruce, accompanied by an encouraging, handclapping audience, gamely rendering “Traintime” on harmonica and vocals, sometimes almost simultaneously.

CDs 4 & 5 capture the 1983 concert, opening with half a dozen numbers from Bruce’s solo album Automatic released in January of that year, on the Intercord label. These include upbeat numbers such as “E Boogie,” “Up Town Breakdown” and “Green and Blue.” On that album, Bruce played all the instruments, including synthesizer drum programming, but here there’s plenty more room for him to stretch out given the comparative luxury of a live trio configuration. His choice of musicians is fortuitous given the phenomenal versatility of David Sancious. But there are, again, more Cream numbers too, such as “Spoonful,” “N.S.U.,” “Rollin’ And Tumblin'” and the inevitable crowd pleaser “Sunshine Of Your Love.” On “I’m So Glad,” the prodigiously talented Sancious makes a more than respectable stab at filling Eric Clapton’s shoes with a coruscating guitar solo. — AllAboutJazz

Personnel: CD1, CD2: Jack Bruce: bass, piano, harmonica, vocals; David “Clem” Clempson: guitar, bass; David Sancious: keyboards, synthesizer, guitars; bass; Billy Cobham: drums, vocals. Plus uncredited backing vocalists. CD4, CD5: Jack Bruce: bass, piano, harmonica, vocals; David Sancious: keyboards, guitars; Bruce Gary: drums. CD3: Jack Bruce: piano, harmonica, vocals.

Junior Walker (born Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr. in 1931 in Blytheville, Arkansas) was one of the most consistent Motown chartmakers and undeniably the global brand’s most successful instrumentalist from 1964 to 1978, racking up 25 US charted singles and 14 US charted albums. With his distinctive, rousing sax style and immediately identifiable vocals, Jr. Walker (with The All Stars – guitarist Willie Woods, keyboardist Vic Thomas and drummer James Graves) had the kind of raw’n’funky sound that captivated audiences worldwide.
Junior’s early success on Motown’s Soul imprint in the ‘60s with ‘Shotgun’, ‘(I’m a) Road Runner’, and a reworking of Marvin Gaye’s ‘How Sweet It Is’, established the dynamic sax man and his band as reliable groove makers.

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The 1969 release of the now-classic ‘What Does It Take (To Win Your Love)’ proved to be a game-changer for Junior, setting the stage for a new decade of recordings that clearly showcased his innovative ability to add his own musical stamp to a diversity of pop, rock, jazz and R&B material.

This box set spanning the years 1970-1976 features five original Motown albums and one album (1974’s “Jr.Walker & The All Stars”) which has only ever been released in its entirety in UK and Europe, all six making their debut on CD worldwide with this 2019 SoulMusic Records’ release.

Disc One comprises 1970’s “A Gasssss” and 1971’s “Rainbow Funk,” both produced by Johnny Bristol; the (20) tracks include ‘Do You See My Love (For You Growing)’, ‘Carry Your Own Load’ and ‘Take Me Girl, I’m Ready’ (one of Jr. Walker’s three UK hits of the ‘70s).

Disc Two (with the charted hits ‘Way Back Home’, ‘Groove Thang’, ‘Walk in the Night’ and ‘Gimme That Beat’) features 1972’s Johnny Bristol-produced “Moody Jr.,” and the 1973 set, “Peace & Understanding Is Hard To Find” which marked a change in creative direction with production by Motown stalwarts Hal Davis, Willie Hutch, Gloria Jones & Pam Sawyer and Junior himself.

Disc Three consists of 1974’s jazz-flavoured “Jr. Walker & The All Stars,” primarily produced by Clarence Paul (who worked consistently in the ‘60s with Stevie Wonder, who guests on two tracks, ‘You Are The Sunshine Of My Life’ and ‘All In Love Is Fair’); and the 1976 Brian Holland & Lawrence Horn-produced “Hot Shot,” (which includes ‘I Need You Right Now’ featuring Thelma Houston).

Released in 2019 (Motown’s 60th anniversary), this reissue (produced by SoulMusic.com’s David Nathan) featuring the ‘70s studio recordings by R&B Foundation Pioneer Awardee and Soul Music Hall of Fame inductee Junior Walker (who passed away in 1995) and his All Stars, first class mastering by Nick Robbins (with digital transfers directly from Universal Music Group) and stellar artwork from Roger Williams. — cherryred.co.uk

Last October, Cherry Red/Hear No Evil released the 8-CD The Early Years 1971-1977, chronicling REO Speedwagon’s beginning on Epic Records. And now they’re back with the follow-up set: The Classic Years 1978-1990, containing the group’s seven remaining Epic albums and a bonus live disc across 9 CDs, highlighting the period when REO Speedwagon became a household name.
The first album in the box, 1978’s You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish, found REO Speedwagon at a time of change. Bassist Gregg Philbin, who had been with the group since 1968 had departed and been replaced by Bruce Hall. Also, the band wished to have more control over their sound which led to lead singer Kevin Cronin and lead guitarist Gary Richrath taking…

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…over as producers (with John Boylan serving as executive producer).  The gambit paid off: You Can Tune became the band’s first album to hit the Top 40, peaking at No. 29.  It also contained the hits “Roll With the Changes” and “Time for Me to Fly.”  “Time” went on to become one of REO Speedwagon’s best known songs.

A bit over a year later, Nine Lives hit store shelves.  It took the band back to a harder sound of their early days.  The LP hit a respectable No. 33 on the charts, but did not sell as well as its predecessor.  The only single off the album, “Only the Strong Survive” (a Richrath original, not the Jerry Butler song) failed to chart.  But REO Speedwagon’s chart fortunes were about to change.

Opting for a more AOR/pop sound, the band released Hi Infidelity in November, 1980.  Most of the tracks on the album were actually just demos with overdubs added.  The band had tried to re-record the songs in the studio but found they couldn’t match the power of their original versions.  Their instincts proved to be correct.  Hi Infidelity would become their biggest hit record, climbing to the top of the charts and becoming the biggest selling rock album of 1981.  It would eventually be certified 10x platinum.  Four singles were released with “Don’t Let Him Go” and “In Your Letter” reaching No. 24 and No. 20, respectively.  But the biggest hits were “Take It On the Run” climbing to No. 5 and “Keep on Loving You,” the power ballad which gave REO Speedwagon their first No. 1 song.

Following up such a massive success is always difficult, and it was no different for REO Speedwagon.  Epic was pressuring them for an album and Good Trouble was released in June, 1982.  Even with more than a year and a half between albums, the band felt the album was rushed, and members including Cronin and Hall relate in the box’s new liner notes that they don’t believe it lived up to expectations.  But the album still did fairly well, peaking at No. 7 on the charts and going 2x platinum with the single “Keep the Fire Burnin’” also hitting No. 7 on the singles chart.  However, perhaps showing the band’s opinion of the album, they haven’t performed a song from it in full other than “Keep the Fire” since 1983.

Taking their time to make sure they got the album they wanted, Wheels Are Turnin’ wasn’t released until November, 1984.  Ironically, Wheels matched Good Times performance on the charts nearly exactly, also peaking at lucky No. 7 and being certified 2x platinum in sales.  But the singles found more success.  “One Lonely Night” would break into the top 20, peaking at No. 19.  The biggest success came with another of the band’s now-signature anthems: “Can’t Fight This Feeling.”  Cronin’s power ballad gave the group their second chart-topper and they would perform the song at 1985’s Live Aid.

More than two years would pass before Life As We Know It was released in February, 1987.  Unfortunately, the results were not on par chart-wise for the band was with their last few albums, not getting into the Top 10 on the album charts, peaking at No. 28.  Two singles found moderate success with “That Ain’t Love” and “In My Dreams” breaking into the Top 20 at Nos. 16 and 19 respectively.

Life would be the group’s final original album of the 1980s and changes were ahead for REO Speedwagon.  Tensions were rising between Cronin and Richrath, who would leave the band in 1988.  One of the last songs on which he played, “Here with Me” from the 1988 compilation The Hits, would be the band’s last Top 20 song to date, hitting No. 20.  Another major personnel change occurred in 1988 as founding member and drummer Alan Gratzer departed the group to spend more time with his family.

Despite the changes, the rest of REO Speedwagon decided to continue on.  Dave Amato (guitar) and Bryan Hitt (drums) were brought in as replacements (several other members also joined for a brief period but did not become permanent members of the group).  Jesse Harms joined as an additional keyboardist and would pen many of the songs for the new lineup’s first album: The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and A Chicken, released in August, 1990.  But the new decade did not bring the same success as the previous one had.  The Earth only climbed to No. 129 on charts.  The lone single to chart was “Love Is a Rock” which hit No. 65 on the pop chart and No. 31 on the rock chart.  And with that, the group’s tenure at Epic was over with the label dropping the band.  Harms left the group in 1991, but the other members have stayed the same in the nearly 30 years since.  In that time, they have released three further studio albums on various labels and continue to tour.

Cherry Red/Hear No Evil’s new box offers a lot of bonus material, with every album except Good Trouble being expanded.  You Can Tune a Piano offers three single versions and the seven track EP “Live Again” from 1978.  Nine Lives and Wheels Are Turnin’ each add several single edits and versions, with Wheels also containing the band’s song for the Goonies soundtrack: “Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright).”  Life As We Know It adds two single edits and two songs from The Hits (the last songs Richrath and Gratzer performed on) while The Earth, A Small Man, His Dog and A Chicken is expanded by three single versions and two songs from the 1999 compilation The Ballads.  Hi Infidelity gets the most generous expansion with a whole second disc devoted to bonus content.  Nine demos from the album (first released on a 2011 reissue) are joined by two single edits and five live tracks.  More live material can be heard on the tenth and final disc of the boxset which contains 17 tracks recorded at various locations from 1980 through 1990.

The remastering was done by Tony Dixon at Masterpiece, London and is solid throughout.

Disc 1: You Can Tune a Piano, But You Can’t Tuna Fish (1-9, Epic JE 35082, 1980) single edits (10-12) and Live Again EP (Epic AS-410 (Canada), 1978)

1. Roll with the Changes
2. Time for Me to Fly
3. Runnin’ Blind
4. Blazin’ Your Own Trail Again
5. Sing to Me
6. Lucky for You
7. Do You Know Where Your Woman Is Tonight?
8. The Unidentified Flying Tuna Trot
9. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight
10. Roll with the Changes (Short Version) (Epic promo single 8-50545, 1978)
11. Roll with the Changes (Long Version) (Epic promo single 8-50545, 1978)
12. Time for Me to Fly (Edit) (Epic single 8-50582, 1978)
13. Son of a Poor Man (Live)
14. (I Believe) Our Time Is Gonna Come (Live)
15. Flying Turkey Trot (Live)
16. Keep Pushin’ (Live)
17. Ridin’ the Storm Out (Live)
18. Piano Interlude (Live)
19. 157 Riverside Avenue (Live)

Disc 2: Nine Lives (1-9, Epic FE 35988, 1979) and bonus tracks (10-12) 

1. Heavy On Your Love
2. Drop It (An Old Disguise)
3. Only The Strong Survive
4. Easy Money
5. Rock & Roll Music
6. Take Me
7. I Need You Tonight
8. Meet Me On The Mountain
9. Back On The Road Again
10. Easy Money (Edit) (Epic single 9-50764, 1979)
11. 157 Riverside Avenue (Live) (from A Decade Of Rock and Roll 1970 to 1980 – Epic KE2 36444, 1980)
12. Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live) (from A Decade Of Rock and Roll 1970 to 1980 – Epic KE2 36444, 1980)

Disc 3: Hi Infidelity (Epic FE 36844, 1980)

1. Don’t Let Him Go
2. Keep On Loving You
3. Follow My Heart
4. In Your Letter
5. Take It On The Run
6. Tough Guys
7. Out Of Season
8. Shakin’ It Loose
9. Someone Tonight
10. I Wish You Were There

Disc 4: Hi Infidelity bonus material

1. Someone Tonight (Crystal Demo)
2. Tough Guys (Crystal Demo)
3. In Your Letter (Crystal Demo)
4. Follow My Heart (Crystal Demo)
5. Take It On The Run (Crystal Demo)
6. Don’t Let Him Go (Crystal Demo)
7. Keep On Loving You (Crystal Demo)
8. Shakin’ It Loose (Crystal Demo)
9. I Wish You Were There (Crystal Demo)
10. Don’t Let Him Go (Edit) (Epic single 19-02127, 1980)
11. Take It On The Run (Edit) (Epic single 19-01054, 1980)
12. Don’t Let Him Go (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 4/25-26/1981) (from Live and In Color – Epic AS-1245, 1981)
13. Keep On Loving You (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 4/25-26/1981) (from Live and In Color – Epic AS-1245, 1981)
14. Take It On The Run (Live) (Epic promotional single (NL) PRO-148, 1981)
15. In Your Letter (Live) (Epic promotional single (NL) PRO-148, 1981)
16. Keep On Loving You ’89 (Reggae Version) (from The Second Decade Of Rock and Roll 1981 To 1991 – Epic EK 48527, 1991)

Tracks 1-9 from Hi Infidelity: 30^th Anniversary Edition – Epic/Legacy 88697 69579-2, 2011

Disc 5: Good Trouble (Epic FE 38100, 1982)

1. Keep The Fire Burnin’
2. Sweet Time
3. Girl With The Heart Of Gold
4. Every Now and Then
5. I’ll Follow You
6. The Key
7. Back In My Heart Again
8. Let’s Be-Bop
9. Stillness Of The Night
10. Good Trouble

Disc 6: Wheels Are Turnin’ (1-9, Epic QE 39593, 1984) and bonus tracks (10-15)

1. I Do’ Wanna Know
2. One Lonely Night
3. Through The Window
4. Rock ‘N Roll Star
5. Live Every Moment
6. Can’t Fight This Feeling
7. Gotta Feel More
8. Break His Spell
9. Wheels Are Turnin’
10. I Do’ Wanna Know (Short Version) (Epic promo single 34-04659, 1984)
11. Live Every Moment (Edit) (Epic single 34-05412, 1984)
12. Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright) (Remix) (Epic U.K. single A-6850, 1985)
13. Gotta Feel More (Radio Mix Long Version) (Epic 12″ promo EAS-2091, 1985)
14. Gotta Feel More (Radio Mix Short Version) (Epic 12″ promo EAS-2091, 1985)
15. Wherever You’re Goin’ (It’s Alright) (from The Goonies: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – Epic SE 40067, 1985)

Disc 7: Life As We Know It (1-10, Epic FE 40444, 1987) and bonus tracks (11-14)

1. New Way To Love
2. That Ain’t Love
3. In My Dreams
4. One Too Many Girlfriends
5. Variety Tonight
6. Screams and Whispers
7. Can’t Get You Out Of My Heart
8. Over The Edge
9. Accidents Can Happen
10. Tired Of Getting Nowhere
11. Variety Tonight (Edit) (Epic promo single 34-07055, 1987)
12. I Don’t Want To Lose You (from The Hits – Epic OE 44202, 1988)
13. Here With Me (from The Hits – Epic OE 44202, 1988)
14. Here With Me (Radio Edit) (Epic promo single 34-07901, 1988)

Disc 8: The Earth A Small Man His Dog and A Chicken (1-11, Epic E 45246, 1990) and bonus tracks (12-16)

1. Love Is a Rock
2. The Heart Survives
3. Live It Up
4. All Heaven Broke Loose
5. Love In The Future
6. Half Way
7. Love To Hate
8. You Won’t See Me
9. Can’t Lie To My Heart
10. I.A.R.
11. Go For Broke
12. All Heaven Broke Loose (Album Version – More Guitar) (Epic promo single ESK 4186, 1991)
13. All Heaven Broke Loose (Single Version – More Vocal) (Epic promo single ESK 4186, 1991)
14. Just For You (Radio Edit) (Epic/Legacy promo single ESK 42413, 1999)
15. Just For You (from The Ballads – Epic/Legacy EK 69425, 1999)
16. Till The Rivers Run Dry (from The Ballads – Epic/Legacy EK 69425, 1999)

Disc 9: Live Tracks

1. Don’t Let Him Go (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
2. Tough Guys (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
3. Take It On The Run (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
4. I Do’ Wanna Know (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
5. Can’t Fight This Feeling (Live @ Kemper Arena, Kansas City, MO – 7/25/1985)
6. Keep The Fire Burning (Live @ MetroCentre, Rockford, IL – 7/15/1983)
7. Roll With The Changes (Live @ MetroCentre, Rockford, IL – 7/15/1983)
8. That Ain’t Love (Live @ Kiel Auditorium, St. Louis, MO – 7/18/1987)
9. Back On The Road Again (Live @ Blaisdell Arena, Honolulu, HI – 1989)
10. Live It Up (Live @ Club Eastbrook, Grand Rapids, MI – 11/23/1990)
11. Roll With The Changes (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 7/2/1981)
12. Ridin’ The Storm Out (Live @ McNichols Arena, Denver, CO – 7/2/1981)
13. Keep On Lovin’ You (Live @ Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN – 12/31/1984)
14. Johnny B. Goode (Live @ Market Square Arena, Indianapolis, IN – 1/1/1985)
15. Can’t Fight This Feeling (Live @ Club Eastbrook, Grand Rapids, MI – 11/23/1990)
16. Say You Love Me Or Say Goodnight (Live @ Alpine Valley Music Theatre, East Troy, WI – 7/27/1980)
17. Time For Me To Fly (Live @ St. Louis, MO – 7/18/1987)

Tracks 1-10 released on The Second Decade Of Rock and Roll 1981 To 1991 – Epic EK 48527, 1991
Tracks 11-17 released on Setlist: The Very Best Of REO Speedwagon Live – Epic/Legacy 88697 70277-2, 2010)

After seven albums in as many years, Dan Peek departed America, leaving Gerry Beckley and Dewey Bunnell to carry on in the band the trio formed. The first release from the new duo line-up was 1977’s Live, but it also marked the end of an era as America’s final album on Warner Bros. Records.
Following that LP, Beckley and Bunnell briefly retreated from the studio; the pair didn’t return with a new studio album for almost two years. When they did, it was at a new label: Hollywood’s venerable Capitol Records. America would stay on Capitol through 1985 for six albums, and now all six are being collected for the first time in a new box set due May 24. Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years presents newly remastered versions of 1979’s Silent Letter, 1980’s Alibi…

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…1982’s View from the Ground, 1983’s Your Move, 1984’s Perspective, and 1985’s In Concert in one deluxe, affordable package.
Silent Letter – humorously titled as the band’s first album since the 1970 debut America to not feature a title beginning with the letter ‘H – reunited Beckley and Bunnell with George Martin, who had helmed every America album since 1974’s Holiday. Both writers contributed songs individually and collectively. “Foolin’” was a collaboration between Beckley and former Beach Boy Ricky Fataar, while the leadoff single, the uptempo rocker “The Only Game in Town,” was an outside composition courtesy of Lewis Anderson, Julie Didier, and Casey Kelly. The song “bubbled under” the Billboard Hot 100, but Beckley’s “All My Life” and Beckley and Bunnell’s “All Around” charted on the AC survey; the latter even earned tremendous popularity in Asia. Both of those AC hits are also included in their mono single versions as bonus tracks.

For their ninth album Alibi, Beckley and Bunnell turned to producers Matthew McCauley and Fred Mollin, recently responsible for the Dan Hill hit “Sometimes When We Touch.” The album moved closer towards a smooth, modern AC sound, with familiar names like Waddy Wachtel, Leland Sklar, Steve Lukather, Pages (and later Mr. Mister)’s Richard Page, J.D. Souther, James Newton Howard, and Eagles’ Timothy B. Schmit among the personnel. Both members were once again active as songwriters, with additional material coming from Russ Ballard (“I Don’t Believe in Miracles”), John Batdorf and Sue Sheridan (“You Could’ve Been the One”) and a quartet of writers including Page (“I Do Believe in You”). “You Could’ve Been the One” also “bubbled under” while “Survival” became a hit in Italy. “You Could’ve Been the One” and follow-up single “Hangover” are both included in mono single versions.

America (the country) would take notice of America (the band) with their third Capitol release. View from the Ground was helmed by Beckley, Bunnell, Russ Ballard, and Bobby Colomby (formerly of Blood, Sweat & Tears) and yielded the infectious worldwide hit “You Can Do Magic (penned and produced by Ballard) as well as “Right Before Your Eyes.” The Ian Thomas song produced by Colomby made it to the top 20 of the AC chart and also placed in the top 50 Pop. Russ Ballard also contributed “Jody” to the LP. View from the Ground welcomed guest writers and artists including Lost in Space star/cult pop hero Bill Mumy, Mark Isham, Christopher Cross, Carl Wilson, Steve Lukather, Jeff Porcaro, Steve Porcaro, Matthew McCauley, and Timothy B. Schmit. With its polished blend of pop and rock, View from the Ground re-established America in their home country as hitmakers, and “You Can Do Magic” added one more signature song to their already considerable roster.

Before their next Capitol album, America provided voices for Jimmy Webb’s score to the animated film The Last Unicorn. They returned to Capitol with Your Move, reuniting the band with Russ Ballard. It was very much the producer’s album; he penned six of its eleven songs and co-wrote a seventh with Bunnell, in addition to playing most of the instruments. But that co-written song, “The Border,” proved crucial. Bunnell rewrote and sharpened Ballard’s original lyrics into an irresistibly urgent cry that gave America another top 40 Pop and top 5 AC hit. “She’s a Runaway,” another highlight, featured harmonies from singer-songwriter Stephen Bishop. But the recording experience wasn’t the happiest for the bandmates as they became vessels for Ballard’s work and weren’t given full creative participation. Still, Your Move holds up well thanks to the strength of “The Border” and the band’s strong vocals.

The final studio album in the upcoming box set is 1984’s Perspective, one of the band’s most radically different releases. The LP saw Beckley and Bunnell fully embracing the 1980s production ethos, with multiple producers (the returning Matthew McCauley plus Richie Zito and Richard James Burgess), and a soundscape of gleaming synthesizers and drum machines supporting their lustrous harmonies. Leadoff single “Special Girl” had been released earlier in the year by its writer, Eddie Schwartz, notching a success in Canada. America took it to the top 20 of the AC chart, and it also “bubbled under” the Hot 100; Meat Loaf’s subsequent version would become a chart entry in the United Kingdom. Second single “Can’t Fall Asleep to a Lullaby” welcomed the voice of another ’80s hero, Steve Perry, backing Dewey’s lead vocal. It reached the AC top 30. Perspective also offered Randy Goodrum’s “(It’s Like You) Never Left at All,” and a collaboration between Beckley and Jimmy Webb, “Stereo.”

Perspective was followed in 1985 by In Concert, marking the second time America had concluded a label affiliation with a live album. The 10-track set was the band’s first album to be issued in the compact disc format. Recorded at Santa Barbara’s Arlington Theatre, it included renditions of “You Can Do Magic,” “The Border,” and “Survival” alongside Warner-era classics like “A Horse with No Name,” “Tin Man,” “I Need You,” “Sister Golden Hair,” and “Ventura Highway.”

Classic Album Collection: The Capitol Years is housed in a clamshell case. This definitive survey of the band’s second period has been compiled by America’s archivist, Jeff Larson. It contains all six albums newly remastered by Andy Pearce, and a booklet containing an essay with reminiscences from the band.

CD 1: Silent Letter (Capitol SO 11950, 1979)

Only Game in Town
All Around
Tall Treasures
1960
And Forever
Foolin’
All Night
No Fortune
All My Life
One Morning
High in the City
Only Game in Town (Mono Version; Capitol promo single P-4752, 1979)
All Around (Mono Version; Capitol promo single P-4817, 1980)

CD 2: Alibi (Capitol SOO 12098, 1980)

Survival
Might Be Your Love
Catch That Train
You Could’ve Been the One
I Don’t Believe in Miracles
I Do Believe in You
Hangover
Right Back to Me
Coastline
Valentine
One in a Million
You Could’ve Been the One (Mono Version; Capitol promo single P-4915, 1980)
Hangover (Mono Version; Capitol promo single P-4950, 1980)

CD 3: View from the Ground (Capitol ST 12209, 1982)

You Can Do Magic
Never Be Lonely
You Girl
Inspector Mills
Love on the Vine
Desperate Love
Right Before Your Eyes
Jody
Sometimes Lovers
Even the Score

CD 4: Your Move (Capitol ST 12277, 1983)

My Kinda Woman
She’s a Runaway
Cast the Spirit
Love’s Worn Out Again
The Border
Your Move
Honey
My Dear
Tonight Is for Dreamers
Don’t Let Me Be Lonely
Someday Woman

CD 5: Perspective (Capitol ST 12370, 1984)

We Got All Night
See How the Love Goes
Can’t Fall Asleep to a Lullabye
Special Girl
5th Avenue
(It’s Like You) Never Left at All
Stereo
Lady with a Bluebird
Cinderella
Unconditional Love
Fallin’ Off the World

CD 6: In Concert (Capitol ST 12422, 1985)

Tin Man
I Need You
The Border
Sister Golden Hair
Company
You Can Do Magic
Ventura Highway
Daisy Jane
A Horse with No Name
Survival

Coming after the first wave of heavy metal bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in the early ’70s and the initial appearance of punk in the mid-’70s, a scene developed during the late ’70s in the U.K. that combined aspects of both scenes and sounds to come up with the New Wave of British Heavy Metal. The bands involved definitely were children of Sabbath and Purple, with all the heavy riffing and yowling vocals that implied, but they were influenced by the D.I.Y. nature of punk, too. That meant that bands weren’t waiting to be sent into fancy studios to get their rough-and-ready sounds cleaned; they were recording on the cheap and putting out records on small labels. A few bands like Def Leppard and Saxon broke through to the metal mainstream, but like in…

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…the case of punk, many of the bands burned brightly for a few singles or albums, then faded away.

It’s not a scene that’s been heavily documented by reissue compilations, so that makes Cherry Red and HNE’s three-disc box set Winds of Time: The New Wave of British Heavy Metal 1979-1985 so welcome. The compilers of the set round up a nice selection of bands from the era, both pretty well-known (Girlschool, Tygers of Pan Tang, Venom) and quite obscure (Demon Pact, Hellanbach, Gaskin), while making a strong case that there was no monolithic sound that the scene produced; it was more of an attitude and way of doing things.

The bands dole out scuzzy biker rock (Lautrec’s “Mean Gasoline”), rampaging fantasy metal (Diamond Head’s “The Prince”), good-time party jams (Silverwing’s “Rock ‘n’ Roll are 4 Letter Words”), and lots of tough rockers (Stormtrooper’s “Bounty Hunter”); get sounds that range from super-poppy (Persian Risk’s “Too Different”) to darkly epic (Jaguar’s “War Machine”); and only occasionally devolve into parody. When they do, like on the ridiculous “Tetelestai” by Witchfynde — which amazingly Slash seems to have used as the template for his guitar sound on “Sweet Child O’ Mine” — it’s still a lot of fun to hear. One of the guiding lights of the wave was definitely Motörhead, and more than a few bands followed Lemmy and the boys’ every move, then cranked out an imitation. It’s a tall order to match up with such a definitive group — but Vardis give it a shot on “If I Were King,” as do Warfare on “Metal Anarchy” — and have the requisite energy, if not the songs. There were also songs, like Dark Star’s “Kaptain America” and Angel Witch’s “Loser,” that could have been hits with major-label backing and slicker production. They were exceptions, though, and many of the bands here are doomed to obscurity by either dodgy production, guitar players whose grasp extended their reach, or songs that were kind of silly. Some may see those as flaws, but they are the elements that make the scene and the bands involved so interesting, and this collection does a great job of presenting the NWOBHM with warts and all. — AMG

4CD set ‘Days (1988-1991)’ effectively brings together new double-disc deluxe editions of ‘Kite’ (1989) and ‘Electric Landlady’ (1991).
…Kirsty MacColl’s unique voice was first heard on her single for Stiff Records, the peppy “They Don’t Know.” Despite strong airplay, the single actually never charted on the U.K. charts, the victim of a distributor’s strike keeping the single from experiencing any major sales. (In 1983, a cover by singer/actress Tracey Ullman, featuring MacColl on backing vocals, was a Top 10 hit in the U.K. and the United States.) After leaving Stiff, Kirsty cut her debut LP, 1981’s Desperate Character, with the Top 20 hit “There’s a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He’s Elvis.” Dropped by Polydor before she could release her follow-up album, MacColl signed to Stiff again, where she released singles including her biggest hit “A New England,” originally recorded by Billy Bragg (and featuring new verses written for her by Bragg).
But when Stiff went bankrupt in 1986, MacColl…

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…again found herself without a label. That didn’t stop her from working as a session vocalist, nor scoring another hit as featured vocalist on The Pogues’ holiday chestnut “Fairytale of New York.” Eventually, MacColl scored a new contract with Virgin, releasing the acclaimed albums Kite and Electric Landlady. Both records were produced by MacColl’s then-husband, Steve Lillywhite, and featured a host of British rock luminaries, including David Gilmour and Johnny Marr. (MacColl covered The Smiths’ “You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby” in 1988, and Marr co-wrote and played guitar on several tracks of hers, including U.S. rock hit “Walking Down Madison.”)

Kite and Electric Landlady, last reissued back in 2012 from Salvo, in deluxe editions – are expanded once again for this box set, with each album taking up two CDs. These 2-CD versions are similar but not identical to the Salvo reissues. The bonus disc of Electric Landlady particularly diverges from the earlier version as it drops the live BBC tracks and replaces them with additional mixes of “Walking Down Madison” and “My Affair.” All told, a generous 33 bonus tracks (non-LP singles, extended mixes, and one-offs) are spread across the two albums.

Kirsty MacColl tragically passed away in 2000 when, while diving off Cozumel, Mexico, she was struck and killed by a boat.  Still, her music endures.  Her period at Virgin Records represents some of her most beloved works. — SecondDisc

Disc 1: Kite (released as Virgin KMLP1 (U.K.), 1989)

1. Innocence
2. Free World
3. Mother’s Ruin
4. Days
5. No Victims
6. Fifteen Minutes
7. Don’t Come the Cowboy with Me Sonny Jim!
8. Tread Lightly
9. What Do Pretty Girls Do?
10. Dancing In Limbo
11. The End of a Perfect Day
12. You and Me Baby

Disc 2: B-sides and Remixes

1. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby
2. Closer To God?
3. La Forêt De Mimosas
4. The End of a Perfect Day (Original Demo Version)
5. Please Help Me, I’m Falling
6. Still Life
7. Happy
8. El Paso
9. Innocence (7″ Remix)
10. No Victims (Guitar Heroes Mix)
11. Innocence (The Guilt Mix)
12. Clubland
13. Don’t Run Away From Me Now
14. Other People’s Hearts
15. Complainte Pour Ste Catherine
16. Am I Right?
17. You Just Haven’t Earned It Yet, Baby (Soundtrack Version)

Disc 2, Tracks 1-2 from Virgin 12″ single KMAT 1, 1989
Disc 2, Track 3 from Virgin CD single KMACD 1, 1989
Disc 2, Track 4 from Virgin 10″ single KMAN 1, 1989
Disc 2, Track 5 from Virgin CD single KMACD 2, 1989
Disc 2, Tracks 6-7 from Virgin 12″ single KMAT 2, 1989
Disc 2, Track 8 from Virgin 10″ single KMAN 2, 1989
Disc 2, Tracks 9 and 12 from Virgin single KMA 3, 1989
Disc 2, Tracks 10-11 from Virgin 12″ single KMAT 3, 1989
Disc 2, Track 13 from Virgin 10″ single KMAN 3, 1989
Disc 2, Tracks 14-15 from Virgin 12″ single KMAT 4, 1990
Disc 2, Track 16 from Virgin CD single KMACD 4, 1990
Disc 2, Track 17 from She’s Having a Baby: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack – I.R.S. Records 6211, 1988

Disc 3: Electric Landlady (originally released as Virgin V2663 (U.K.), 1991)

1. Walking Down Madison
2. All I Ever Wanted
3. Children of The Revolution
4. Halloween
5. My Affair
6. Lying Down
7. He Never Mentioned Love
8. We’ll Never Pass This Way Again
9. The Hardest Word
10. Maybe It’s Imaginary
11. My Way Home
12. The One and Only

Disc 4: B-sides and Remixes

1. Walking Down Madison (7″ Mix)
2. Walking Down Madison (Urban Mix)
3. Walking Down Madison (Ye Olde Originale Mix)
4. Walking Down Madison (Extended Urban Mix)
5. Walking Down Madison (Club Mix)
6. Walking Down Madison (6 am Ambient Mix)
7. One Good Thing
8. Darling Let’s Have Another Baby (with Billy Bragg)
9. The Hardest Word (Alternate Take 3)
10. My Affair (Ladbroke Groove Mix)
11. My Affair (Bass Sexy Mix)
12. My Affair (Olive Groove Mix)
13. My Affair (single edit)
14. All The Tears That I Cried
15. Don’t Go Near The Water
16. All I Ever Wanted (Single Version)

Disc 4, Tracks 1 and 7 from Virgin single VS 1348, 1991
Disc 4, Tracks 2 and 8 from Virgin CD single VSCDG 1348, 1991
Disc 4, Tracks 3-4 from Charisma CD single 96342-2 (U.S.), 1991
Disc 4, Tracks 5-6 from Virgin 12″ single VST 1348, 1991
Disc 2, Track 9 from deluxe edition of Electric Landlady – Salvo Music SALVOMDCD31 (U.K.), 2012
Disc 4, Tracks 10-12 from Virgin 12″ single VST 1354, 1991
Disc 4, Tracks 13-14 from Virgin single VS 1354, 1991
Disc 4, Track 15 from Virgin CD single VSCDG 1354, 1991
Disc 4, Track 16 from Virgin single VS 1373, 1991

In this series of four vault-raiding titles, Mannfred Mann (and its other iterations and lineups) celebrate their BBC sessions over the years to the tune of 142 tracks, most of which are previously unreleased. Each title spans two discs and concentrates on a particular era of the band’s varied history.
Volume 1 features Manfred Mann’s original lineup and documents the group’s initial flurry of hits including “Pretty Flamingo” and “Sha La La.” This volume also features Jack Bruce on a number of tracks, who would soon go on to form Cream. Aside from songs recorded on such programs as Saturday Club, Pop Inn, and Top Gear, the collection also features rare interviews with presenters that contextualize their early days as they rose to fame.

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Volume 2 concentrates on the Mike D’Abo-led lineup during their days on the Fontana label from 1966-1969. Among the tracks are “Just Like a Woman,” “Ha! Ha! Said The Clown,” “Hound Dog,” and “The Mighty Quinn.” The collection spotlights 45 tracks, all but one of which are previously unreleased.

Volume 3 spotlights the radio appearances of Manfred Mann Chapter Three along with soundtrack recordings, studio gems, and jingles. Chapter Three arose after the break up of the Mike D’Abo lineup. The group was led by Mann and Mike Hugg and saw the pair entering more free-form territory. Aside from BBC sessions, this volume also includes radio work from Sweden and Australia, as well as the debut of the entire Venus in Furs soundtrack.

Finally, Volume 4 covers the first lineup of Manfred Mann’s Earth Band with BBC recordings from 1970-1973. Every track is previously unreleased. It includes the band’s earliest BBC appearance, before they adopted the Earth Band name. There are also In Concert sessions from 1971 (Paris Theatre, London) and 1973 (Golders Green Hippodrome, London), a 1971 John Peel session, and a number of other gigs recorded for radio. All the titles in the Radio Days series are remastered and have been released with the full approval of the featured artists. — SecondDisc