Review: A Real Gone January – Bill Medley, Jody Miller and The Tymes
Among the first releases of 2012 from newbie label Real Gone Music is a two-on-one collection offering the compact disc debut of Bill Medley’s 100% and Soft and Soulful. But those titles are apt to describe the entire Real Gone line-up for January, as the young label has given 100% to make available a wide variety of music: soft and soulful, yes, but also jazzy, twangy, and folky. There’s something for everyone in this array of once-neglected titles.
As 1968 began, The Righteous Brothers were still an ongoing concern. But the split of Bill Medley and Bobby Hatfield couldn’t have seemed too far off, at least judging from the March release of their LP Standards. The LP was composed entirely of solo tracks, six by bass-baritone Medley and five by tenor Hatfield. Later that year, a live LP was entitled One for the Road, and the solo Righteous Brothers were off and running. Real Gone has brought together Medley’s first two solo albums for MGM Records, 100% and Soft and Soulful, on one CD (RGM-0016).
1968’s 100% marked a tentative beginning for the singer as a solo act, and he hadn’t severed all ties to his former “brother,” even announcing on his recording of “Let the Good Times Roll” that “Bob Hatfield’s in town!” Always an accomplished producer, Medley took the controls himself, with arrangements provided by Bill Baker. The Medley/Baker team had previously taken the Righteous Brothers’ reins after the duo parted ways with Phil Spector, and even aped Spector’s Wagnerian style on the majestic “Soul and Inspiration.”
It’s odd, then, that Medley seemed a bit tentative about the musical direction he should pursue on 100%. There’s Bill Medley, the finger-snapping, supper-club swinger of “You’re Nobody ‘Til Somebody Loves You” and “That’s Life.” There’s Bill Medley, the Broadway balladeer of “Who Can I Turn To” and the ubiquitous “The Impossible Dream.” Most familiar is Bill Medley, the blue-eyed soul man of George Fischoff and Tony Powers’ “Run to My Loving Arms,” the rocking “Show Me” and the full-throttle “You Don’t Have to Say You Love Me.” The album’s strongest track is, ironically, “I Can’t Make It Alone,” a Carole King/Gerry Goffin collaboration also recorded by Bobby Hatfield in his first year of freedom. (Hatfield’s version is still unreleased to this day; paging Real Gone Music?) Medley’s vocal proves that he certainly could make it alone, though this terrific performance was outdone by the unlikeliest of performers, the trouser-splitting British star P.J. Proby! Though the song was specifically written for The Righteous Brothers, Proby cut the original in 1966, and tapped arranger Jack Nitzsche to repeat the magic he’d created on songs like the Spector-produced “Just Once in My Life.” Although Medley scored a small hit with his rendition, Proby out-Righteous’d the Brothers. A bigger hit for him was 100%‘s “Brown-Eyed Woman.” It was eritten by the same all-time great team of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil, who had already penned the Righteous Brothers’ two No. 1 hits (“Soul and Inspiration” and “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’”).
Soft and Soulful, from 1969, is more cohesive than its predecessor, with Medley and Baker emphasizing rock and soul. (The hat was only tipped once to Sinatra on this LP, with a take on “Softly, As I Leave You.”) The standout track is “Peace, Brother, Peace” an earnest plea by Mann (also its co-producer) and Weil. With its large choral arrangement and timely sentiment, it earned Medley his final solo hit for a decade. Medley wrote or co-wrote four songs himself, including another cry for racial peace, the oddly-titled “I’m Gonna Die Me” (“I’ve tried to so hard to feel my brother’s pain/But when you’re white, it’s just not the same” – forgive the forced “rhyme”!).
The cover material on Soft and Soulful is well-chosen, from chestnuts like John D. Loudermilk’s “Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye” and Jerry Butler’s “For Your Precious Love” to a languid, crooned “Any Day Now” from the Burt Bacharach songbook. Medley’s own “Something So Wrong” (“shouldn’t feel so right!”) has a big, brassy soul setting, and “When Something is Wrong with My Baby” makes the most of the classic Isaac Hayes/David Porter song. Mann and Weil’s second offering on the album is “Winter Won’t Come This Year,” an atypical, torchy song, with a warm arrangement and wistful piano accompaniment.
Real Gone Music has packaged this title in a large Japanese-style paper sleeve digipak, and the artwork looks beautiful in this increased size. Richie Unterberger has supplied the informative notes, and Mark Wilder has splendidly remastered in a rare non-Sony assignment. Two more MGM LPs followed for the singer, 1970’s Someone is Standing Outside and 1970’s Nobody Knows, reissued with one different track as Gone. A handful of unreleased tracks recorded by Medley is also known to exist; might any of these titles arrive next? Cross your fingers!
Hit the jump to explore new reissues of long-lost music by The Tymes and Jody Miller! Read the rest of this entry »
Reissues on Target: Retail-Exclusive Expansions Available for Adele, Blake Shelton
If you’re in the U.S. and are heading to Target after work for a few household items, you might want to keep an eye out for two recent hit albums, both newly expanded in sets exclusive to the retail chain.
First up, a familiar expansion of last year’s biggest album, 21, by British soul singer Adele. Unless you’ve been living underneath a rock for the past year, you know that the 21-year-old Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist has had a precedent-shattering year with this record. In an age where it’s a surprise if albums go platinum (meaning, of course, a million units shipped), 21 has gone six times platinum, has spent 46 weeks in the Top 5 of the Billboard 200 as of this writing (it’s been out for 47 weeks) and has been the No. 1 album in the country for 16 nonconsecutive weeks, a feat most recently matched by the soundtrack to Titanic in 1997 and 1998. And singles “Rolling in the Deep” and “Someone Like You” spent a combined 12 weeks atop Billboard‘s Hot 100.
A Target-exclusive deluxe edition was in fact already released alongside the initial pressing of the album, featuring four live bonus tracks (including a duet of country group Lady Antebellum’s hit “Need You Now” with Darius Rucker, onetime lead singer of Hootie and The Blowfish and now a country star in his own right). But it wasn’t long before copies were impossible to come by; so, with the 54th Grammy Awards fast approaching in February (where Adele and 21 are nominated for six trophies), the store has ordered up a second pressing of the deluxe edition.
But that’s not all! A modern country performer and television star gets expanded with an ’80s twist after the jump.
You’ve Got a Friend in Intrada: Randy Newman’s “Toy Story 3″ Arrives on CD
Toy Story 3 certainly had its fair amount of accomplishments. It was highest-grossing film of 2010 (domestic and worldwide), the all-time box office champ among animated features, and in the Top 10 highest-grossing films of all time. It reaped five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and took two of the gold statues home. It became the first film to be released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound. But one thing Toy Story 3 didn’t have was a proper soundtrack album on CD. Following an unfortunate pattern established with Michael Giacchino’s Academy Award-winning score to Up, Randy Newman’s score to Toy Story 3 was relegated to the domain of digital downloads. (With Giacchino’s Cars 2 in 2011, compact discs were back.) Yet there was a silver lining when independent soundtrack specialist label Intrada struck up a partnership last year with Walt Disney Records, kicking it off with a CD presentation of Up. Now, we’re happy to announce that Newman’s Toy Story 3, featuring the Oscar-winning song “We Belong Together” as performed by its composer/lyricist, is finally available on CD and begins shipping today from Intrada’s online store. (Longtime readers might recall Mike at Second Disc HQ wishing upon a star for its CD release way back in August!)
The transformation of Randy Newman (the man behind such witheringly brilliant songs as “Rednecks” and “Sail Away”) into a family-friendly Disney Legend seems to have surprised many, including the esteemed Mr. Newman himself. But Newman has always had a tender side, and even his most acerbic works have been imbued with great humanity and even compassion for those wronged by society. This side of the composer blossomed most fully when he plunged himself into the family business of film scoring with 1981’s Ragtime, based on E.L. Doctorow’s sprawling novel. (Newman had previously dabbled with soundtrack scoring for the television series Peyton Place as well as Norman Lear’s 1971 Cold Turkey.) Newman received Oscar nominations both for his score and the song “One More Hour.” He truly was off and running. In his film soundtracks, Newman frequently taps into the same strong vein of Americana that informed pop album masterworks like Good Old Boys and Sail Away. It was perhaps inevitable that his rich and varied orchestral palette would take him to Main Street, U.S.A., or The Walt Disney Company. He netted two more Oscar nods for 1995’s Toy Story, beginning a fruitful association with Disney and/or Pixar, through James and the Giant Peach, A Bug’s Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., Cars and The Princess and the Frog.
Hit the jump for much more on Toy Story 3, including the full track listing and pre-order link, as well as news on Intrada’s other January 24 release! Read the rest of this entry »
Movin’, Kickin’, Groovin’: A Barry White Classic Expanded by Hip-o Select
Hip-o Select turns its focus away from Motown for some more satin soul from the inimitable Barry White, with a nicely-expanded release of his 1976 LP Let the Music Play.
By the time the title track from the album – an underrated plea for music to soothe the pain of a lost love over some of the lushest strings from The Love Unlimited Orchestra – was released as a single in late 1975, White was virtually his own brand. He’d recently come off a triplet of Top 10 singles in 1974 and 1975 with the dazzling “Can’t Get Enough of Your Love, Babe,” “You’re the First, the Last, My Everything” and “What Am I Gonna Do with You,” and would enjoy platinum sales of his first greatest hits record in ’75.
Although Let the Music Play lacked a distinct pop hit single – the title track hit No. 4 on the R&B charts, and follow-ups “You See the Trouble with Me” (co-written by guitarist Ray Parker, Jr.) and “Baby, We Better Try to Get It Together” were modest-to-very-good tunes on the same chart – it’s been unfairly overlooked as a whole until recently, with the retooling of “Let the Music Play” as a European dancehall cut in 2000 and the discovery of some great alternate material for the song on the great BW box set Unlimited in 2009.
In fact, Hip-o Select’s remastered and expanded edition of the album features five bonus versions of that very song, including the aforementioned Funkstar Deluxe Mix from 2000, the alternate version, both sides of the original single (an edit and an instrumental) and a new mix by longtime Select collaborator John Morales, reimagining the tune as a vintage 12″ single version.
Let the Music Play is available to order now and will start shipping around February 3. It hits stores, appropriately enough, this Valentine’s Day, February 14. Hit the jump to check out the full specs!
Last Train to Clarksville: Limited Quantity Remains of Monkees “Greatest Hits” on Orange Vinyl
Monkee Alert!
In 1969, the band itself was coming apart at the seams, and its television program had been cancelled a year earlier. But Colgems Records had a solution to reignite interest in the zany music makers: release the first-ever Monkees hits collection! That LP was The Monkees Greatest Hits, a 14-track album that lives up to its promise: “I’m a Believer,” “Last Train to Clarksville,” “Pleasant Valley Sunday,” “Daydream Believer,” “A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You,” and so on. The Monkees Greatest Hits soon became one of the most sought-after albums in the Monkees’ catalogue, and it’s never been reissued on CD in its original form, having been superseded by numerous other compilations.
Friday Music and Rhino have teamed up to bring the original Greatest Hits back as a 180-gram vinyl release, and as if that wasn’t enough, Rhino has exclusively offered a small allotment (just 500 copies) on limited edition orange vinyl. Greatest Hits has been flying out the door, and only a small percentage of that number is still available, but it can be yours now if you pre-order at this link! The price is $19.98, which is actually less than the standard (black vinyl) version’s retail price of $24.98 at Amazon.com.
The album has been lavishly repackaged, and you’ll even find a rare stereo mix of a Neil Diamond-penned tune on this vinyl gem. The orange-vinyl edition begins shipping on March 6, while the standard version is available now. Hit the jump for the details via Friday Music’s full statement on this exciting release, plus the track listing! And stay tuned for more news on Friday’s ongoing Monkees celebration! Read the rest of this entry »
A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop-a-lop-bam-boom! “Here’s Little Richard” Returns in April
When compiling our reissue review on Rolling Stone‘s greatest albums of all time last year, it was a bit of a surprise at Second Disc HQ to learn, for all the reissues of Little Richard’s classic Here’s Little Richard on the market, that few of them were particularly archival-oriented. That’s about to change this year, though, with an expanded reissue of the iconic album by Concord Music Group in April.
Richard Penniman was no stranger to performing and recording when he released his first single for Specialty toward the end of 1955; he had cut tracks for RCA and Peacock in the years before. But his first 45 for Art Rupe’s label, a full-tilt boogie-blues jam called “Tutti Frutti,” was not the work of a merely contented jobber. In three takes over 15 minutes, Richard created what is now seen as perhaps the first quintessential rock and roll song, with the iconic, nonsense-syllable intro; the high, keening vocal take and a down ‘n’ dirty fistful of piano keys. “Tutti Frutti” peaked at No. 2 on the R&B singles chart and was a No. 17 crossover pop hit; follow-up “Long Tall Sally” did even better, reaching No. 6 pop and No. 1 R&B. (“Slippin’ and Slidin’” and the powerhouse single “Rip It Up”/”Ready Teddy” were additional Top 10 singles on the R&B charts.)
While Richard would record one more album for Specialty with its own share of hits (“Good Golly Miss Molly,” “Keep A-Knockin’”) before walking away from rock for gospel music (and spending a career careening between both genres). But he really didn’t need to say much more about secular music: Here’s Little Richard made him an unquestionable legend.
This new release of Here’s Little Richard is augmented with a nice smattering of bonus content, some familiar (demos of “Baby” and “All Night Long,” first heard on the great Specialty Sessions box set released by Ace Records in 1989) and some brand-new (a never-before-heard interview with Specialty founder Rupe and two “screen test” clips of “Tutti Frutti” and “Long Tall Sally”). The disc is augmented with new liner notes by R&B musicologist Lee Hildebrand and the original LP’s liner notes.
Here’s Little Richard bops back into your life on April 17. Hit the jump for the full specs and keep an eye on this post when a pre-order page is ready!
Release Round-Up: Week of January 24
The Doors, L.A. Woman: 40th Anniversary Edition (Reprise/Rhino) / Mr. Mojo Risin’: The Story of L.A. Woman (Eagle Rock/Rhino)
The Doors’ final album with Jim Morrison, memorialized in both a double-disc set with unreleased alternates and outtakes and a DVD/Blu-Ray documentary.
Various Artists, 2012 Grammy Nominees (Universal Republic)
And the nominees are…on this disc.
Various Artists, Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty International (Shangri-La/Fontana)
Four, count ‘em, four discs of artists past and present covering the Bard.
The latest from Real Gone is all over the place in a most excellent way!
Kirk Franklin, The Essential Kirk Franklin (Fo Yo Soul/Verity/Legacy)
The modern gospel legend compiles his greatest hits, Legacy-style, on two discs.
Recently remastered in Japan, the PiL catalogue is given the remastered treatment in the U.K. (these should be available on domestic shores soon, if not now).
Adele, 21: Target Deluxe Edition (XL Recordings) / Blake Shelton, Red River Blue: Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros.)
Two recent hit albums get some deluxe treatment from American retailer Target. Check back later for a full post on these ones.
10538 Overture: Electric Light Orchestra Debut Turns 40, Expanded with Quad DVD and Bonus Tracks
The musical partnership of Jeff Lynne and Roy Wood was a short-lived one, but EMI will soon give listeners a chance to revisit their acclaimed collaboration. A 40th Anniversary Edition of the debut album from Electric Light Orchestra is set to arrive on March 12. Self-titled for its original U.K. release and re-titled No Answer for the U.S., the album announced a bold new sound, reportedly created when Wood urged Lynne to add cellos to his song “10538 Overture.” That track leads off this CD/DVD edition, containing both the original LP in expanded form and a bonus DVD. On the latter you’ll find the quadraphonic mix of Electric Light Orchestra in DTS 96/24 and Dolby Digital, plus the album’s two-channel mix in PCM Stereo.
Electric Light Orchestra may be a shock to the system for those fans who only know the band from its later hits like “Evil Woman” and “Mr. Blue Sky.” On those songs, musical polymath Jeff Lynne allowed his Beatle-influenced style to flourish, modernizing Lennon and McCartney-style pop songcraft for an arena rock experience. On the debut album, though, Lynne was sharing the driver’s seat with another prodigiously talented music man, Roy Wood. A founder of The Move who enlisted Lynne into the Birmingham band upon the departure of lead singer Carl Wayne, Wood brought his classical leanings to the newly-formed ELO, complementing Lynne’s rock sensibilities. The divergences of opinion between Wood and Lynne only lasted through this one album, with Wood relinquishing ELO to Lynne and going on to form Wizzard. But some forty years later, Electric Light Orchestra still shows off the best of both gentlemen.
The contrasts between Wood and Lynne are apparent, with the former’s baroque-flavored “Look at Me Now” quite a shift from the latter’s classically-colored hard rock of “10538 Overture.” There are progressive rock touches to the album, with lengthy pieces like Wood’s “The Battle of Marston Moor (July 2nd, 1644).” Lynne even touches on jazz with the piano-driven “Manhattan Rumble (49th St. Massacre).”
What bonus tracks have been included? Hit the jump to find out! Read the rest of this entry »
Legacy Plans Artist Collections, Themed Sets for New “Playlist” Batch
Brace yourselves, compilation collectors: Legacy’s got another batch of Playlist titles out next week.
The latest batch of set, due out January 31, skew mainly toward modern country and rootsier rock (Gretchen Wilson, Montgomery Gentry, solo works by Gregg Allman) with some wild cards thrown in for good measure (R&B from Charlie Wilson of The Gap Band and Wyclef Jean, contemporary pop-rockers Augustana, a set from The Hooters that was delayed from the last batch). In a nice change of pace, a few multi-artist themed compilations are present, too – one for February’s Black History Month and one of modern reggae tunes.
All the scoop on these sets is after the jump.
Happy Birthday Johnny! Film Legend Celebrates Milestone with Pair of Compilations
The music catalogue world is celebrating one of Hollywood’s truest living legends with two, count ‘em, two, compilations next month.
Whether you’re a die-hard film score collector or a mere appreciator of good movie music, John Williams has made a mark on your consciousness. His list of credits spans decades, first as a Juilliard-trained pianist working under the greatest batons in Tinseltown (that’s him plunking the low notes in Henry Mancini’s iconic Peter Gunn theme), then a light, jazzy composer and arranger of some renown (this period saw his first Oscar nod, for 1967′s Valley of the Dolls). But it was his transformation in the 1970s to ultra-symphonic composer for disaster films (The Towering Inferno, The Poseidon Adventure) and mega-blockbusters (JAWS, the Star Wars, Indiana Jones, Jurassic Park and Harry Potter film series, E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial, Superman: The Movie and others) that made him a household name, the likes of which had not been seen in generations with the likes of Max Steiner, Alfred Newman and Erich Korngold.
Williams’ career has seen five Oscar wins and 45 nominations (tied with Newman for the second-most nominations in history), 20 Grammys, three works on the American Film Institute’s list of the 25 greatest film scores of all time (including list-topper Star Wars (1977)), a healthy tenure as the conductor of the world-famous Boston Pops Orchestra from 1980 to 1993 (Williams remains their conductor laureate and performs with them annually) and some of the most indelible themes for television ever written. (His “The Mission” is still the theme for NBC’s nightly newscast, and the network will use his many pieces for their Olympic coverage; he has written pieces for the 1984, 1988, 1996 and 2002 games.) And Williams has steadfastly refused to retire, even as he approaches his 80th birthday on February 8: last month, audiences heard the soundtrack to War Horse and The Adventures of Tintin: The Secret of the Unicorn, directed by longtime collaborator Steven Spielberg, and he will pen the music for the director’s forthcoming Lincoln in addition to several new chamber works and a typically robust schedule of live conducting gigs across the country.
So how does one celebrate such a rich musical legacy in just a few CDs? Sony Classical and Decca have each taken up that task this year – and you can find out more after the jump!
