Reviews: Three From Real Gone – Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo, Jerry Reed and Durocs
Real Gone Music has become known for its wide-ranging and eclectic releases, and today we’re looking at three of the most recent, from the countrypolitan stylings of Jerry Reed to the rock animals of Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo and the pure pop of The Dūrocs!
Dūrocs, Dūrocs (Real Gone Music RGM-0058, 2012)
Are you ready to hear one of the best albums you’ve never heard? Then head straight to the pig pen for the first-ever CD release of Dūrocs. Primarily written and produced by the team of Ron Nagle and Scott Mathews, fun is the order of the day on this 1979 pure pop gem. Co-produced by Neil Young associate Elliot Mazer, Dūrocs blends tongue-in-cheek humor with a flair for melodic pop songcraft that will appeal to any fan of The Beach Boys, The Beatles or Phil Spector’s Wall of Sound. The album could come with a warning: These songs will get stuck in your head!
Ron Nagle and Scott Mathews found gainful employment as songwriters in the 1970, successfully placing songs with artists ranging from The Tubes to Barbra Streisand. When the duo set their sights on recording as a band, it was so named for “a breed of pig known for its intelligence and large testicles.” (Seriously.) Nagle calls his take on the Philles sound his “Wall of Mud,” and it’s in evidence on the album’s blast of an opener, the tongue-in-cheek “Hog Wild.” But there’s nothing sludgy on this goofily charming rock anthem: “We got the Dūroc stance/But we don’t stand a chance if we do it only half-hearted…hog wild!”) An authentic Wrecking Crew legend, Steve Douglas, adds his trademark honking saxophone alongside, um, squealing backing vocals!
Douglas’ saxophone adorned many Beach Boys songs, so why not the very Beach Boys-influenced “We Go Good Together,” then? The catchy, humorous list song with a tropical vibe has a lyric so eccentric that even Brian Wilson would likely have approved: ““We’re just like ham and cheese/Birds and trees/Shoes and socks…” There’s even a New Wave sheen to “True Love,” which also recalls the best of Todd Rundgren.
The surprisingly earnest ballad “Don’t Let the Dream Die” features yearning Beatle-esque songcraft with ringing guitars and pedal steel played by Mathews (“We’ll never have to worry anymore/Goin’ round in circles/Chasing rainbows ‘til I think I’m gonna drop/Then a little voice inside me says that/Good things never come from giving up”), and “One Day at a Time” is another look at the softer side of Nagle and Mathews’ ouevre. The raucous, scathing “Seeker (You Be Sucker)” is at the opposite end of the spectrum, turning its lyrical ire towards quasi-spiritual truth-seekers. It, too, is tempered by a Douglas sax solo! “Saving It All Up for Larry” is similarly dark; Gene Sculatti’s liner notes reveal that the song “evolved from a true story involving a reluctant miss, her absentee boyfriend and a zealous, deliciously overconfident stalker.” The lone cover is a choice one: the irresistible “It Hurts to Be in Love,” a hit for Gene Pitney penned by Howard Greenfield and Helen Miller.
The length of the album has been almost doubled, with eight bonus tracks added to the original ten. The otherwise-copious notes by Gene Sculatti don’t go into much detail about the origin of these tracks, but they’re copyrighted with a 1985 date, and that date sounds about right. These “bone-us tracks” demonstrate the same melodic facility and fun sensibility as the original album, with a bit more of a “big ‘80s” sound. Highlights include the wryly-titled “Pete Has Got the Power” and the honky-tonk country homage “Drinkin’ One Day at a Time,” with a suitably exaggerated, pathos-filled lyric. In a rather unexpected cameo, you’ll hear Ernie K-Doe (“Mother-in-Law”) on the most peculiar “Nawgahide.” As a whole, they’re not as strong a set of songs as the original album, but they round out one of the most purely enjoyable reissues to have emerged of late. If you prefer your pop with a sixties sensibility and a seventies/power-pop sound, you won’t want to miss Dūrocs.
We check out Jerry Reed and Mick Fleetwood’s Zoo after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
Review: Paul Simon, “Graceland: 25th Anniversary”
When Paul Simon travelled to Graceland, he was aware of the mighty contradictions: “And I may be obliged to defend every love, every ending/Or maybe there’s no obligations now…” Those days of miracle and wonder took place in 1986, and now some 25 years later, the restless artist is still defending Graceland. The path to Graceland was a circuitous one, with stops in New York, Los Angeles, London, Louisiana and most crucially, Johannesburg. Though the multi-platinum record picked up Grammy Awards, sold over 14 million copies and was almost universally hailed, Simon’s decision to ignore a United Nations-sanctioned cultural boycott in travelling to South Africa threw the entertainer into the eye of a political firestorm. This story lends Legacy Recordings’ provocative new 2-CD/2-DVD box set of Graceland (88697 97715 2, 2012) a depth not usually found on such commemorative editions and one which can still inspire passionate discourse today. It’s told in words, images, video, and of course, music.
For the classic album’s title metaphor, Paul Simon chose a place explicitly tied to the birth of rock and roll. Not only is Graceland literally the place of Elvis Presley’s residence (“I am following the river down the highway/Through the cradle of the Civil War”) but in the song, it simply represents the state of grace the singer is trying to attain, the place where he “will be received.” Over a track partially built in Johannesburg with the participation of South African musicians on drums, percussion, bass, pedal steel and guitar, Simon adopted a trans-cultural Sun Records shuffle, and even called in his old heroes The Everly Brothers on vocals. Sure, Simon had been fascinated with sounds of other cultures as far back as the 1960s when teamed with Art Garfunkel. He adapted the Peruvian melody of “El Condor Pasa,” then as a solo artist in the 1970s toured with South American group Urubamba. In the same decade, he recorded reggae in Jamaica for “Mother and Child Reunion.” But with Graceland, both the song and the album, Simon’s dictum that music is the universal language never before seemed so explicitly put into practice.
That original 11-track album, remastered in 2011, sounds as fresh as it did in 1986, with its big drum sounds the most prominent remnant of the decade of its birth. The album combined Simon’s dazzling wordplay and ravenous musical curiosity with some of the most talented musicians to come out of South Africa: Bakithi Kumalo on bass, Vusi Kumalo on drums, Ray Phiri on guitar, The Boyoyo Boys, The Gaza Sisters, Ladysmith Black Mambazo. Simon required authenticity to bring the enchanting, joyous sounds of South Africa to a mainstream American audience, and found it in these musicians who endured creating their indigenous mbaqanga music despite the oppression of apartheid in their home country. The often sullen troubadour, producing with longtime engineer Roy Halee, created an album that’s as danceable as it is thought-provoking. Who would have pegged Paul Simon to write an arena-friendly anthem like the quirky “You Can Call Me Al,” just one of many songs in which he introduces memorable characters with a strong dollop of autobiography? The compositions on Graceland are all the more striking when one considers that the instrumental tracks were recorded and songs then written around these grooves; Simon’s penchant for transforming the mundane into the fantastic (through lyrics alternately abstract, impressionistic, observational and reflective) was never better utilized. It’s also easy to make a case for Simon as a pioneer of “sampling,” as he made an art out of building new compositions around existing musical material, from “El Condor Pasa” through Graceland and beyond.
There’s plenty more after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
Hooked On A Feeling (Again): B.J. Thomas “Complete Singles” Back On Schedule, Plus Germs Update
Longtime readers of The Second Disc know that Real Gone Music is one of our favorite reissue labels. And the level of dedication from the Real Gone team brings a silver lining to what would otherwise be an update as to a long-delayed title. Back in February, the Real Goners announced the March 27 release of The Complete Scepter Singles of B.J. Thomas, the “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling” hitmaker. March, of course, came and went, and as of June 6, this eagerly-anticipated title still hasn’t arrived. But that’s all about to change!
On June 19, The Complete Scepter Singles will arrive in stores and even better than expected. Here’s the story, straight from Real Gone’s email newsletter: “Shortly after we sent out the press release and started production, we discovered that, while stereo recordings for the album versions of B.J.’s singles were easily accessible, the tapes were missing for most of B.J.’s original mono singles. We then embarked on a worldwide search for those single tapes – worldwide because the Scepter label has had a lot of owners over the years, and sometimes the tapes have been left behind as ownership transferred. Well, we’re happy to say our work paid off – we found a good number of tapes stashed in various vaults over the globe, and the result is all but two of the 46 tracks come from tape, and the other two -including, for the first time ever on CD, the long stereo version of ‘Rock and Roll Lullaby’ – are seamless disc dubs made from mint copies [of the original singles].”
In short, June 19 will bring the first-ever anthology to include the Texas-raised singer’s original single mixes (38 mono, six stereo) including all nineteen of his chart hits. In addition, the first 50 customers to order The Complete Scepter Singles from Real Gone will receive a booklet autographed by Thomas himself. (Customers who previously ordered the title from the label will receive a booklet, as well).
But that’s not all. Real Gone’s release of the self-titled album from The Germs has also received an “upgrade,” so to speak! Hit the jump for details!
Real Gone enlisted Pat Smear, current Foo Fighters guitarist and former guitarist for The Germs, for the liner notes to its reissue of 1979’s Joan Jett-produced album (GI). Smear clued the Real Gone crew into the existence of an unreleased track from the original album sessions engineered by Jett, “Caught in My Eye,” that had been withheld from release as a potential single. The Real Gone newsletter picks up the story: “We checked with the licensor, Rhino, and, sure enough, there were a lot of versions of that song in the vaults. So, we figured, one of those had to be the right version, right? So, we announced the inclusion of the bonus track, designed the art (and got some killer Jenny Lens photos to add to the package along with lyrics and liner notes), and were ready to roll when we got the bad news – all that was in the vault was the Chris D. remix of the song that had appeared on an earlier Germs compilation! Forehead…meet wall. But then, right before we were about to scrap the art and announce to the world that we goofed, we got a call – Rhino had discovered a track on their tape logs that looked like it could be the one we were looking for. We had them send it over via email, and it sounded great to us, definitely different from the previous remix. But it still awaited the true test: Pat’s blessing. So we sent it over to him and sure enough, it’s the real deal!”
The Germs’ (GI) is in stores now, complete with “Caught in My Eye.” It can be ordered here, while the June 19 release of B.J. Thomas’ The Complete Scepter Singles can be pre-ordered at this link or right here directly from Real Gone!
Review: Heart, “Strange Euphoria”
You’ve gotta have Heart. For over forty years, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson have been rocking and rolling, singing and strumming, and did I mention rocking? Often considered the female answer to Led Zeppelin, Heart has outlived that famous band, incorporating Zeppelin’s furious attack into music also influenced by pop and folk. The new 3-CD/1-DVD set Strange Euphoria (Epic/Legacy 88691 93736 2, 2012) is the first collection of Heart’s catalogue selected by the Wilsons and the band’s first multi-disc box, drawing on their thirteen studio albums, live recordings and original demos. With over 20 previously unreleased tracks, it offers a wealth of material for collectors and fans alike.
It’s both strange and euphoric, though: the latter because of the sheer power of the music. The former, because it’s neither fish nor fowl. Though taken from songs recorded between 1969 and 2010, it’s not quite a true, all-encompassing career retrospective, as it’s lacking key hits such as “What About Love” and “All I Wanna Do is Make Love to You.” Other favorites are heard in alternate versions: “Barracuda,” for one, is heard in a live version rather than the hit single. But it’s not a strict “from the vaults” outing, either, with some major cuts such as “Alone” and “These Dreams” represented in their familiar versions The result is a personal, incomplete and idiosyncratic journey through the music, with its creators as your tour guides.
When Heart burst onto the scene early in 1976, the top female artists of the day were Ladies of the Canyon (Linda Ronstadt), soul sisters (Minnie Riperton, Patti LaBelle) and an Australian pop queen (Olivia Newton-John). Needless to say, there was no other prominent band quite like the one formed by the sisters from Seattle. With guitarist Roger Fisher, keyboardist/guitarist Howard Leese and bassist Steve Fossen, drummer Michael Derosier, lead vocalist Ann and lead guitarist Nancy first made a splash with the Dreamboat Annie album, released appropriately enough on Valentine’s Day, 1976. But Strange Euphoria begins much earlier, and Disc One covers the period between the 1969 single “Through Eyes and Glass,” as performed by Ann Wilson and the Daybreaks, and the 1978 album Dog and Butterfly. The spare, haunting folk-rock melody of “Through Eyes and Glass,” adorned with acoustic guitar and flute, doesn’t seem to have much in common with “Magic Man” or “Alone” at first glance. But by eschewing many full productions in favor of raw, stripped-down demos, the box set makes the case that the song was always the thing with Heart.
Hit the jump to dig deep with the Wilson sisters! Read the rest of this entry »
Almighty Fire: Five Lost Aretha Franklin Albums Reissued, Expanded For First Time On CD
The old Second Disc Crystal Ball is back in action! We’ve looked back to March 30, 2011, when our Reissue Theory column was dedicated to a hypothetical box set containing Aretha Franklin’s five “lost” Atlantic albums, all released between 1974 and 1979. Now, over a year later, we don’t have to imagine any longer, for a reissue of all five albums is upon us! Roger Friedman has broken the news at Showbiz 411 and Forbes.com that Franklin’s label, Aretha’s Records, has entered into a deal with Universal Music Group for the expansion and reissue of With Everything I Feel in Me (1974), You (1975), Sweet Passion (1977), Almighty Fire (1978) and La Diva (1979). The Queen of Soul’s deal with Universal will not impact her recently-announced contract with Sony’s Clive Davis (a mastermind of her successful 1980s “comeback”) for new material, but Friedman states that the Universal agreement might encompass further vault material and even new artist signings in the future.
These five albums have never before appeared on CD, despite a true “Who’s Who” of songwriters and producers befitting a Queen, among them Lamont Dozier, Jerry Wexler, Curtis Mayfield, Barry Mann, Burt Bacharach and Hal David, Van McCoy, Marvin Hamlisch and Carole Bayer Sager. Though none of these LPs were pop smashes, all were successful on the R&B charts (the first three going Top Ten) and most importantly, all have something to offer not only for fans of Aretha but all pop and soul enthusiasts. Though a date for the reissues has not been announced yet, bonus tracks have been confirmed. Hit the jump for more details including the full track listings! Read the rest of this entry »
Once Is Just Not Enough: The Dynamic Superiors’ Motown Disco Classics Arrive on CD
The old adage that “good things come to those who wait” certainly applied to The Dynamic Superiors. Founded in Washington, DC in 1963, the vocal quintet didn’t receive their first major recording contract until 1974; their previous experience on record had been a lone single for New York’s Sue Records. That major contract was with Motown Records, no longer the Sound of Young America but still a vital force in popular music. SoulMusic Records reissued the first two albums by The Dynamic Superiors on CD in 2010, and has recently tackled the group’s third and fourth albums on the Motown label. The reissue of You Name It (1976) and Give and Take (1977) now means that The Dynamic Superiors’ entire Motown output is available on CD.
Tony Washington (lead vocal), George Spann (first tenor), George Peterback, Jr. (second tenor), Michael McCalpin (baritone), and Maurice Washington (bass) were spotted by Motown’s Ewart Abner following an Atlantic City concert. Once signed to Motown, the group was paired with Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson, who produced The Dynamic Superiors in 1975 and wrote all but one of its tracks. That album yielded the hits “Shoe Shoe Shine” and “Leave It Alone,” and sophomore album Pure Pleasure included “Nobody’s Gonna Change Me” and “Deception.” Ashford and Simpson returned for Pure Pleasure, and even included a cover of their “Ain’t Nothing Like the Real Thing.”
Hit the jump to explore the two recently-reissued long-players, plus complete track listings and order links! Read the rest of this entry »
Cherry Red Round-Up: Kenny, KC, Carly and More Get New Expansions
Our friends at Cherry Red Group have had a stellar amount of new reissues in the past month, and we figured now was as good a time as any to highlight some of our favorites across the board.
The Lemon label has issued an expanded edition of Keep the Fire, the 1979 soft-rock classic by Kenny Loggins. While the singer-songwriter had put out two albums since the disbandment of Loggins & Messina, it was only recently that he started his ascendancy as one of the go-to pop writers and performers of the age; previous album Nightwatch featured Top 5 hit “Whenever I Call You Friend” with Stevie Nicks, and earlier in 1979 saw “What a Fool Believes,” written with Michael McDonald for McDonald’s Doobie Brothers, reach the top of the Billboard charts. Loggins and McDonald teamed up again for Keep the Fire‘s lead single, ”This is It,” which reached No. 11 and won Loggins a Grammy for Best Male Pop Vocal Performance. Strong guests bolster the album, with Michael Brecker contributing saxophone work and underrated album cut “Who’s Right, Who’s Wrong” featuring sweet vocal harmonies from Michael Jackson. Lemon’s expanded disc features two live tracks of undetermined origin and a “clean version” of “This is It.”
One of Big Break Records’ newest titles harkens back to the days of disco and the unstoppable dance rhythms of KC and The Sunshine Band. Harry Wayne Casey, Richard Finch and their irrepressibly-produced band had a triple platinum hit with their self-titled sophomore album for T.K. Records in 1975, buoyed by No. 1 hits “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It).” (The effervescent “Boogie Shoes” was a Top 40 hit when included on the Saturday Night Fever soundtrack LP two years later.) Bonus cuts include the original single mixes of “Get Down Tonight” and “That’s the Way (I Like It)” as well as a 1994 mix of the former by veteran disco man Tom Moulton.
It’s on to the ’80s and ’90s with some big hits and intriguing obscurities after the jump!
Catch A Wave! Special Review: The Beach Boys’ “That’s Why God Made The Radio”
In Part One of our special two-part series, we recalled the ups and downs of The Beach Boys and the band’s chief musical architect, Brian Wilson. Today, in Part Two, we turn the spotlight over to That’s Why God Made the Radio, the new album in stores today from America’s Band!
Brian Wilson is still a cork on the ocean floating over the raging sea. But is that a whiff of contentment I hear running through The Beach Boys’ “reunion” album, That’s Why God Made the Radio? Despite the ups and downs survived by Wilson and The Beach Boys over the years, the emphasis in the band’s 50th anniversary year is on the ups. And I wouldn’t want it any other way. This all-new collection of songs has been produced by Brian Wilson, recorded by Joe Thomas and executive-produced by Mike Love, for those keeping score of such credits. And Wilson’s stamp is all over the new album, with rock’s ultimate survivor doing what he does best: writing and singing with The Beach Boys. At its peak moments, That’s Why God Made the Radio surpasses all expectations, building on the legacy of a group for whom many felt history had closed the book.
“Old friends have gone, they’ve gone their separate ways,” Brian Wilson matter-of-factly sings in the album closer, “Summer’s Gone.” But it’s a valedictory moment when he confirms that “dreams hold on for those who still have more to say.” The greatest gift of That’s Why God Made the Radio is the knowledge that Wilson, Mike Love and Al Jardine, along with longtime cohorts Bruce Johnston and David Marks, still have plenty to say. (While longtime Beach Boy Johnston is prominent on vocals, the recently-returned Marks offers strong guitar throughout.) This won’t be a complete surprise to those who have followed Brian Wilson’s solo career.
In the years following 1998’s Imagination, produced with Joe Thomas, Wilson teamed with a group of young musicians who could brilliantly recreate the sound of the mid-1960s Wrecking Crew productions with a modern energy. That vital aggregation had much to do with Wilson’s autobiographical concept album That Lucky Old Sun, which prefigures some of the more personal songs on That’s Why God Made the Radio. For the new album and current tour, many of those same members of The Brian Wilson Band are present: Scott Bennett, Probyn Gregory, Darian Sahanaja, Nick Walusko, Nelson Bragg, Paul Mertens, and especially Jeffrey Foskett, whose prominent falsetto colors many of the group’s harmonies. They have marshaled their forces with Joe Thomas and the Mike Love/Bruce Johnston Beach Boys group including guitarist Scott Totten and drummer John Cowsill. The album’s production bears Thomas’ influence; it isn’t as explicitly pastiche-oriented as Lucky Old Sun, but it’s not merely a slick, glossy update, either. Brian Wilson’s favorite instruments are all accounted for: flute, tack piano, accordion, trombone, saxophone, vibes and harpischord are just a few of the tools in Wilson’s arsenal. The polished production brings all of these “pet sounds” to the fore.
A gentle tropical breeze wafts through many of these songs, but purists shouldn’t forget that sun, surf and sand have been an integral part of the band’s DNA since the very beginning. The acknowledgment of those nostalgic themes doesn’t take anything away from the “coming of age” of Pet Sounds and the avant-garde beauty of SMiLE, nor the stripped-down rock of the early 1970s or even the lo-fi, off-kilter pop of Beach Boys Love You. All of these are colors of “America’s band,” and indeed the new album is filled with allusions to the band’s past and present.
Grab some good vibrations after the jump! Read the rest of this entry »
Release Round-Up: Week of June 5
The Beatles, Yellow Submarine (Blu-Ray) (Apple/EMI)
Take a trip back to Pepperland with the Fab Four’s animated film, now available as a feature-laden Blu-Ray Disc. The 1999 Yellow Submarine Songtrack remix album is also added to the Beatles remaster canon. (Keep a close eye on our giveaway; we’re announcing a winner very soon!)
Paul Simon, Graceland: 25th Anniversary Edition (Legacy)
A man walks down the street, sees many configurations of the Graceland reissue (namely a CD/DVD featuring newly released outtakes and the new documentary Under African Skies – also separately available on DVD and Blu-Ray – and a four-disc box set which adds an entire 1987 concert from the Graceland tour on DVD) and gets pretty darn excited.
David Bowie, The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders from Mars: 40th Anniversary Edition (EMI)
Ziggy falls to earth once again, albeit just as a newly-remastered CD with no bonus content; the bonuses are on the LP/DVD combo, which features out-of-print and unreleased surround mixes.
Jerry Goldsmith, Star Trek: The Motion Picture – Limited Edition (La-La Land Records)
Available to order later today (around 4 p.m. EST), this three-disc edition is the definitive word on Jerry Goldsmith’s iconic score for the first Trek film, with the complete score, alternate and rejected cues, the original LP program and many other audio treasures. (If you haven’t yet, do check out the first part of our interview with the set’s co-producer Mike Matessino, and check back for part two later this week!)
Michael Jackson, I Just Can’t Stop Loving You (CD Single) (Epic/Legacy)
Available only at Walmart stores in the U.S., this CD single, backed with the unreleased demo “Don’t Be Messin’ ‘Round,” kicks off the Bad 25 campaign.
Maroon 5, Songs About Jane: 10th Anniversary Edition (A&M/Octone)
Weeks away from the release of their fourth studio album, a double-disc version of Maroon 5′s first breakthrough album, featuring demos and unlockable video content, is now available.
Sugar, Beaster: Deluxe Edition (Edsel)
The latest in the Sugar reissue campaign (seminal debut Copper Blue was reissued last week) is an expansion of the band’s second release, an EP, with a bonus DVD of performance clips.
Heart, Strange Euphoria (Epic/Legacy)
A 3 CD/1 DVD box chronicling the highs of Ann and Nancy Wilson’s lengthy careers, with hits and rarities in equal measure.
Lenny Kravitz, Mama Said: 21st Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Virgin/EMI)
Kravitz’s sophomore album, featuring hit single “It Ain’t Over ‘Til It’s Over,” expanded with non-LP B-sides, live material and archival demos.
Some hidden gems from some of the best ’70s and ’80s rockers, all of which are either rare or new to CD.
Kylie Minogue, The Best of Kylie Minogue (EMI Catalogue)
A simple, compact collection of Kylie hits. A special edition features a DVD of music videos.
Black Sabbath, Iron Man: The Best of Black Sabbath (Sanctuary U.K.)
A bare-bones Sabbath compilation.
The Association, The Complete Warner Bros. and Valiant Singles Collection (Now Sounds)
Every last one of The Association’s singles for the Valiant and Warner Bros. labels are collected on two CDs! Watch for full coverage of this collection soon!
Smalltown Boy Made Good: Edsel Preps Bronski Beat, Communards Expansions
Edsel continues populating a busy release schedule with recently-announced expansions of three albums from two bands featuring Scottish pop singer Jimmy Somerville.
British pop fans might know Somerville today as the falsetto-voiced singer who crooned several hits in the ’80s and ’90s (including a chart-topping dance track in the U.S., “Heartbeat,” in 1995). But his first brushes with stardom happened with a pair of synthpop bands in the middle of the 1980s. First, there was his brief but notable tenure as lead singer of Bronski Beat from 1983 to 1985; Somerville and bandmates Steve Bronski and Larry Steinbachek all addressed the still-taboo topic of homosexuality in their music (all three were publicly out) but never sacrificed the music for the message. The catchy singles “Smalltown Boy” and “Why?” were Top 10 hits in 1984 and remain notable gay anthems to this day.
Somerville departed Bronski Beat amid personal and professional tensions, forming The Communards with classically-trained musician Richard Coles. Though Somerville remained a prominent gay icon, The Communards’ biggest hits were high-energy covers of soul classics. Their take on “Don’t Leave Me This Way,” performed by Harold Melvin & The Blue Notes and Thelma Houston, was England’s top-selling single of 1986, and a cover of The Jackson 5′s “Never Can Say Goodbye” was a Top 5 hit, too.
Edsel’s two-disc editions of Bronski Beat’s The Age of Consent and The Communards’ Communards and Red all come brimming with extras, including non-LP B-sides and single remixes, many of which are making their debuts on CD. The Age of Consent includes the remix album Hundreds & Thousands in its entirety, while Red features all of the live tracks from Storm Paris, a triple-12″ set released in 1988. Somerville contributed new notes to all three sets (Coles contributed to the Communards packages).
Look for these in U.K. shops on July 2 and hit the jump for the full breakdowns!
