The Monkees, The Monkees: Super Deluxe Edition (Rhino Handmade) (Exclusively available directly from label)
It’s Monkeemania all over again: Davy, Micky, Peter and Michael are back with a 3-CD expansion of their debut album featuring 100 tracks – 45 of which are previously unreleased!
ABBA, Gracias Por La Musica: Deluxe Edition (Polar/Universal) (Amazon U.S. Link TBD / Amazon U.K.)
ABBA is saying “Thank You for the Music” – in Spanish! The band’s Spanish-language 1980 album Gracias Por La Música is going deluxe with 5 bonus tracks, plus a 40-minute DVD featuring vintage promo clips and previously unreleased television material.
The Kinks, Muswell Hillbillies: Legacy Edition (Legacy) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Legacy has a new edition of 1971’s Muswell Hillbillies on tap as part of its new Kinks kampaign. It retains eight of the thirteen bonus tracks on the 2013 U.K. Deluxe Edition, dropping three BBC radio performances from The John Peel Show (“Acute Schizophrenia Paranoia Blues,” “Holiday” and “Skin and Bone”) and the 1976 remixes of “Muswell Hillbilly” and “20th Century Man.” It then adds a separate DVD with thirteen previously-unreleased performances: two songs from a January 1972 broadcast of The Old Grey Whistle Test and eleven from BBC’s Live at the Rainbow program from July 1972.
Pink Floyd, The Endless River (Columbia)
CD/Blu-ray: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Single CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
In early 1993, David Gilmour, Nick Mason and Richard Wright created more than one hundred pieces of music by jamming together and recording the results. The trio then honed the pieces at Gilmour’s studio, played them live for 2 days at Olympic Studios in Barnes with additional players (Guy Pratt on bass, Jon Carin on keyboards and Gary Wallis on percussion), returned to Astoria, and worked further with co-producer Bob Ezrin. The resulting LP, after lyrics and vocals were added, was The Division Bell. Rumors abounded of a separate ambient album created from the remaining ethereal instrumentals, but nothing came of it until now. Gilmour and Mason re-entered the studio earlier this year and added further instrumentation to the tracks they originally created with the late Richard Wright. Pink Floyd describes The Endless River as 60% new, with the other 40% drawn from those original 1993 recordings. Gilmour describes the record as follows: “The Endless River has as its starting point the music that came from the 1993 Division Bell sessions. We listened to over 20 hours of the three of us playing together and selected the music we wanted to work on for the new album. Over the last year we’ve added new parts, re-recorded others and generally harnessed studio technology to make a 21st century Pink Floyd album. With Rick gone, and with him the chance of ever doing it again, it feels right that these revisited and reworked tracks should be made available as part of our repertoire.”
Rush, R40 (Concord/Rounder)
DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
BD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
This 10-DVD or 6-BD box set tells the story of Rush through live performance material recorded over the years,with an emphasis on the period of 2003-2013.
Whitney Houston, Live (Arista/Legacy)
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
CD/DVD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Clive Davis has overseen this first official live release for the late, great Whitney Houston, which includes some of the diva’s most beloved onstage performances recorded between 1983 and 2009.
Queen, Queen Forever (Hollywood)
CD: Amazon U.K.
2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
This new anthology features three previously unissued recordings (including “There Must Be More to Life Than This” with Michael Jackson) and other off-the-beaten path selections.
Roger Taylor, The Lot (Omnivore)
The Queen drummer’s own solo career is captured in this lavish 13-disc complete box set.
Blood Sweat and Tears, Child is Father to the Man – 5.1 Surround SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD)
Al Kooper’s long-shelved 5.1 surround mix of Blood, Sweat and Tears’ stunning jazz-rock debut finally makes an appearance on hybrid SACD thanks to Audio Fidelity! Bob Ludwig masters Kooper’s 5.1 mix, while Steve Hoffman has remastered for the stereo presentations.
Eric Clapton, Pilgrim SACD (Audio Fidelity) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Link TBD)
Steve Hoffman remasters Eric Clapton’s 1988 studio album Pilgrim for hybrid stereo SACD!
Tears for Fears, Songs from the Big Chair: Super Deluxe Edition (Mercury)
Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
2-CD Deluxe Edition (Discs 1 & 2 below only): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Vinyl (Original Album): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Blu-ray Audio (Stereo and 5.1 Mixes): Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.
Mercury has a variety of formats coming for Tears for Tears’ landmark 1985 album, including a 4-CD/2-DVD box set!
Ray Charles, Genius Loves Company: 10th Anniversary Limited Collectors Edition (Hear Music) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
Hear Music repackages Ray Charles’ Grammy-winning duets album for a second time this year, retaining the two bonus tracks and DVD documentary from the previous edition and adding director Taylor Hackford’s 2004 motion picture Ray on a second DVD.
Worzel Gummidge: The Musical – Original London Cast Recording (Stage Door) (Amazon U.K.)
Stage Door Records remasters and expands the Original 1981 London Cast Recording of Keith Waterhouse, Willis Hall and Denis King’s musical comedy to CD for the first time.
Various Artists, Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes (Harvest) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.)
What happens when you give a notebook filled with never-before-recorded Bob Dylan lyrics to producer T Bone Burnett and a musical collective featuring Elvis Costello, Rhiannon Giddens (Carolina Chocolate Drops), Taylor Goldsmith (Dawes), Jim James (My Morning Jacket) and Marcus Mumford (Mumford & Sons)? You get Lost on the River: The New Basement Tapes, a 2014 companion to the recent issue of the original, legendary recordings made by Dylan and The Band.
