Archival Posts 2003 April 27-30

April 30, 2003

We have a few things for you today including Duane Leyva's review of Supared and my review of the Deluxe Edition of The London Howlin' Wolf Sessions from Chess/MCA. We also want to alert you to Bill Hunt and Todd Doogan's upcoming book from McGraw Hill, "The Digital Bits' Insider's Guide to DVD". It's an exciting time for them. They have worked hard and now the fruits of that labor is soon to be available. For only $17.95, You can pre-order the book here. MusicTAP is proud of Bill and Todd.

We're going to keep the post small today because we have some things to do here behind the scene. We still have to build that archival page. But enough about that. What's coming out?

Sony has some interesting titles coming out. On May 13, George Clinton and P-Funk gets a Legacy disc that is fully remastered and includes 13 tracks (9 on CD for the very first time). The tracks represent recordings by the members of the band including Bootsy Collins, Philippe Wynne, Junie Morrison, and others component members. Of course, George Clinton is in there as well. All this material here is output by band members during the late 80s and 90s.

On June 24, Legacy issues "The First Seven Days" by Jan Hammer. Also, and I'm still not entirely sure of this one, but the sheets says that Jeff Beck has a release coming called "Grease Monkey". This Jeff Beck disc is scheduled for release on June 24 from Epic Records.

Columbia Records issues the new John Mellencamp disc, "Trouble No More" on June 3.

Finally, we have the following release dates for the following discs:

Train - My Private Nation - Columbia - June 3

The Charlie Daniels Band - The Essential Charlie Daniels Band - Epic/Legacy - June 10

Stan Getz - Captain Marvel - Legacy/Columbia - June 24

Our Lady Peace - Live From Calgary and Edmonton - Columbia - June 24

Kenna - new sacred cow - Columbia - June 10

That's it for today. See you tomorrow.

April 29, 2003

We have a few goodies today for you including Gregory Warner's review of Polydor's "Cream - BBC Sessions" and an article by Scott Watkins on Sea of Green. The article page is not finished but will look better when I complete it. I wanted to get the article up. I'm listening to the new EP by Flaming Lips, "". I thought that I would have this review for you today but it will most likely post tomorrow.

I've been doing a a bit of reading of some rock news lately and noticed a few items that I don't know if you've caught. Namely, that the Eagles newest album is nearing completion and that Fleetwood Mac's latest, "Say You Will", is hot on the charts. I've also read that David Lee Roth is suing his former mates, Van Halen, concerning a beefed up contract that gives the band a higher revenue from sales of their catalogue. Seems fair. Oh, but The Doors are getting rocked again with a suit by the estate of Jim Morrison. Lemme see...that's three very expensive lawsuits that could eat up profits of the tour. Wonder why they even bothered. Karma saying that some things are better left alone. And since we're on lawsuits, Yoko Ono dropped her bid against Sir Paul citing that she's just going to let him get on with it. For the unknowing, Paul reversed the writing credits for Lennon/McCartney on his "Back in the USA" album. This rocked Yoko and she read a riot act of sorts.

July 3 brings the Brian Setzer Orchestra's "The Best of Brian Setzer Orchestra - Jump, Jive & Wail: 1994-2000", featuring 96k/24bit remastering of 23 tracks from the band's 4 Interscope and Hollywood albums. Amongst the tracks are Brian Setzer originals and brilliant takes on such classics as Gene Pitney's "Town Without Pity"; "Pennsylvania 6-5000", "Mack The Knife", and "Americano". Also included are the Orchestra versions of his old Stray Cats' "Rock This Town" and "Rumble in Brighton".

Also from Universal that is of note and released on June 3 is Mercury Records' 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection of Wet Willie. This collection is remastered from the original source and features 11 songs, representative of Wet Willie's recording career. Wet Willie originally recorded for Capricorn Records, the original home of The Allman Brothers and Marshall Tucker Band, and produced seven albums of southern blues/funk including the Top 40 favourite, "Keep on Smilin'". Anybody remember that great cover for "The Wetter The Better"? If you've forgotten or have never seen it, here you go.

Varese Sarabande has a nice pleasant surprise for us with a 2CD issue of an Essentials series for Johnny Winter called "Winter Essentials: 1960-1967". Now, if I didn't write another thing the rest of this post, this annoucement would well have been worth it. I'm a huge Johnny Winter fan. Although partial to his Columbia output including Columbia's Blue Sky label, this set still makes me salivate. I'm anxious to hear the content and to see the cover art for this one. When I see it, you'll see it as well.

Don't forget to catch Yeah Yeah Yeah's "Fever to Tell" which releases today.

Soon, we'll be able to give you a rundown on the upcoming BB King disc, "Reflections" that streets on June 10 with the SACD version closely following on June 24 barring any delays. BB King records 13 quality tunes including "What a Wonderful World" that just rocks. He employs an all-star group, which includes great session guitarist/solo artist, Doyle Bramhall, to assist him in this production of R&B and pop standards. This disc was mastered by Bob Ludwig. Folks, I've heard this disc and you won't be disappointed. I'm more than anxious to include this in my library especially in SACD splendour. Another favourite of mine from this album is the cover of "Always on My Mind", last covered by Willie Nelson. Coming up will be the review of this album with an SACD update.

We'll catch back up with you tomorrow again. and we'll have more cool things for you. Don't we always?

April 28, 2003

I'm back...I think. It's been quite a week here at TAPLand (I couldn't resist). I'm going to post every day this week but I'm going to keep it lighter than usual. The reason is that I need to catch up and redo our reviews archives page so that you folks can get to them easier than you do now. As a matter of fact, I've been so swarmed in stuff that I've meglected that part. It's grown so big now that I actually need some time to put it together. So...just bare with me. I promise to keep things going. It's just that the posts will be shorter in length for a small period of time. Thanks for your patience and understanding.

So let's see what's being released out there.

In SACD news, there will be 4 new releases scheduled from Abkco Records and Universal. The discs are of the hybrid capability, which is always great news. The artist is Sam Cooke. The releases are "Ain't That Good News"; "Keep Movin' On"; "Portrait of a Legend: 1951-1964"; and "Sam Cooke at the Copa". These discs will release on June 17. While we're talking about SACD, don't forget the Peter Gabriel releases coming out on the 29th of April. Also on April 29 is 3 Doors Down's "Away From the Sun", also a hybrid. Rockin'!!

We have a pretty cool and interesting release coming up from Fuel 2000 Records. The album is the newest from Canned Heat. Yep, you read that right, Canned Heat. They have been reformed since 1999. This album represents the fruits of that reformation with a wealth of talent on board to make it a special outing. The album is called "Friends in the Can" and feature Taj Mahal, Harvey Mandel, Walter Trout, John Lee Hooker, and others. Now, the potential highlight of this disc is a re-recording of "Let's Work Together", which, quite frankly, I'm very very anxious to hear. Of course, it won't replace, it can't replace, the original but it has to be pretty cool. This disc contains 13 tracks, 11 of them brand new. This album is going to be a very limited run with only 2500 discs being created. If you're a Canned Heat fan and this work intrigues you, plan on getting your copy when it releases on June 3. You may also be interested in knowing that Canned Heat begins a tour on June 1 with over 60 available dates.

Josh Kelley's debut with Hollywood Records, "For The Ride Home" is being released on June 3. If you've not heard Josh, not to worry. I'm including a link here for you to be able to listen to three of his songs. All just part of the ongoing campaign to promote new and good talent that lots of us might never hear. Give him a shot.

On June 10, Varese Sarabande Records will release a Peter Green disc, "Blues by Green". Given the usual exceptional quality of Green's work, I'm looking forward to this one. For June 24, Island is releasing a 2CD Bob Marley title, "Live at the Roxy". We'll look at that title more as info is released for it.

Tomorrow, we have new reviews from Greg Warner and myself, with Greg having listened to the Cream BBC Sessions release. Also, Scott Watkins recently was invited to attend a showcase of newcomer band, Sea Of Green. We have his perspective on that visit and the band for tomorrow as well. It seems as if I'd forgotten about the XRCD discs that we have of Steve Miller's "The Joker". We haven't forgotten. We'll have that contest up this week for sure...promise!! It's a great package and the format is stunning to say the least. So, check back with us for more updates tomorrow with the added bonuses.

Tomorrow...