Posts Tagged ‘Rhino’

LOVE – ” Forever Changes ” 50th Anniversary Edition Box Set

Posted: February 6, 2018 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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Released just months after the so-called 1968 Summer of Love, Forever Changes was the third studio album by the group simply and boldly called Love.  But more than just that four-letter word was on the mind of bandleader/songwriter Arthur Lee, who saw beyond sunshine and flowers that summer.  Love traded in the punchy electric guitar sound of the group’s first two albums (and successful singles like “7 and 7 Is” and a cover of Burt Bacharach and Hal David’s “My Little Red Book”) for a denser, more orchestrated style that incorporated strings and horns alongside acoustic guitars.  Despite the often beautiful sound, though, Forever Changes was a song suite that referenced war, violence, drug abuse, failed romance and racial tension in songs like “A House is Not a Motel” (playing off another Bacharach/David song, “A House is Not a Home”), “The Red Telephone” and “Live and Let Live.”  Bryan MacLean contributed the album’s single “Alone Again Or” which kicked off the album in a collision of AM-meets-FM styles.  Now, the seminal masterwork originally released in November 1967 will be getting the deluxe 50th anniversary treatment from Rhino on April 6th.

Forever Changes has always been better-regarded in the United Kingdom than in its United States birthplace; it went Top 30 in Britain but only reached No. 154 in America.  But that hasn’t stopped the album’s cachet from growing every year, and it’s been a CD mainstay since its very first release in the format in 1987.  For this super-sized outing, Forever Changes will arrive in a 12 x 12 hardbound book-style format, containing 4 CDs, 1 DVD, and 1 LP.  The original stereo album will be featured on Disc One in a new remaster by original engineer Bruce Botnick, while the original mono mix makes its official CD premiere on Disc Two.  The third disc has the alternate mix of the entire album that premiered on the 40th anniversary reissue in 2008 plus outtake “Wonder People (I Do Wonder)” in the mix first issued in 2001.  The fourth CD, Singles and Outtakes, has the unique 45 RPM versions as well as the original mix of “Wonder People (I Do Wonder),” demos, backing tracks, and more.  The contents of the 40th anniversary bonus disc are reprised here, alongside two previously unissued tracks: the backing tracks of “Wonder People” and “Live and Let Live.”  The DVD has Botnick’s stereo remaster in 96/24 high resolution, plus the rare 1968 promotional film Your Mind and We Belong Together.  Finally, the LP has the stereo remaster cut from high-res digital audio by Bernie Grundman.

The final album by the original Love line-up of Lee, MacLean, John Echols, Ken Forssi, and Michael Stuart, Forever Changes remains a benchmark of pop and rock.   Music historian Ted Olsen has provided new track-by-track liner notes and an essay for Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition.  Look for it on April 6th from Elektra and Rhino.

Love. Forever Changes: 50th Anniversary Edition (Elektra/Rhino, 2018)

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VAN MORRISON – ” Astral Weeks, His Band and the Street Choir ” Rhino Reissues

Posted: August 29, 2015 in CLASSIC ALBUMS, MUSIC
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There’s even more coming from Van Morrison! Legacy Recordings, a catalog division of Sony Music Entertainment, just landed a deal that gave them the rights to the largest Van Morrison discography under one label. Many of Van Morrison’s tracks have been out of print for years, never been available through iTunes, and even less available via streaming sites. Legacy plans to begin a “digital rollout” of the entire Morrison discography, starting with 33 album titles to be released . They will also be releasing a series of compilation albums, the first of which, Essential Van Morrison, will also be available  It will be a 37-track anthology that has classics from Morrison’s early days up to his latest works. Legacy stated that fans can expect songs from Morrison’s Them years available through the company later this year.

Following up on 2013’s multi-disc deluxe edition of the Northern Irish soul man’s 1970 classic “Moondance” and on the heels of Legacy Recordings’ announcement earlier this week that the Sony imprint has acquired the majority of Van Morrison’s post-1971 catalogue, Rhino has just announced two new deluxe editions drawn from Morrison’s seminal early Warner Bros. discography.  Both 1968’s label debut “Astral Weeks” and 1970’s jubilant His Band and the Street Choir will get remastered and expanded editions on October 30th.

Astral Weeks failed to dent the charts when it was released in the fall of 1968, but the hypnotic song cycle’s singular fusion of folk, jazz, soul, blues and beyond has earned Astral Weeks its status as an ahead-of-its-time classic.   The upcoming deluxe edition presents four previously unreleased recordings offering a fly-on-the-wall view of the interplay between Van Morrison and the quartet that joined him in the studio: bassist Richard Davis, guitarist Jay Berliner, percussionist Warren Smith, Jr., and Modern Jazz Quartet drummer Connie Kay. These bonus tracks include the first take of “Beside You,” extended versions of “Slim Slow Slider” and “Ballerina,” and a stripped-back alternate take of “Madame George” that emphasizes the vibraphone.

Van Morrison - His Band

Van Morrison, of course, followed up the mystical Astral Weeks with the much more commercial Moondance.  How to follow Moondance?  He returned a few months later in 1970 with His Band and the Street Choir, featuring some of his most loose and fresh songs like the hit “Domino” and “Blue Money.”  This remastered version of the album is expanded with five previously unreleased bonus tracks, including an early, raw take of “Give Me a Kiss” without piano, horns or backing vocals. Morrison’s falsetto shines on Take 3 of “Gypsy Queen,” while the alternate version of “I’ve Been Working” ratchets up the funk quotient.  Take 10 of “Call Me Up in Dreamland” and an alternate of “I’ll Be Your Lover Too” round out the reissue.

Both single-disc titles are due from Warner Bros. Records and Rhino on October 30th at which time they will also be available digitally.  Pre-order links are not yet active, but watch this space!

Van Morrison, Astral Weeks (Warner Bros. WS 1768, 1968 – reissued Rhino, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Links TBD)

  1. “Astral Weeks”
  2. “Beside You”
  3. “Sweet Thing”
  4. “Cyprus Avenue”
  5. “The Way Young Lovers Do”
  6. “Madame George”
  7. “Ballerina”
  8. “Slim Slow Slider”
  9. “Beside You” (Take 1)
  10. “Madame George” (Take 4)
  11. “Ballerina” (Long Version)
  12. “Slim Slow Slider” (Long Version)

Tracks 9-12 are previously unreleased.

Van Morrison, His Band and the Street Choir (Warner Bros. WS 1884, 1970 – reissued Rhino, 2015) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. Links TBD)

  1. “Domino”
  2. “Crazy Face”
  3. “Give Me a Kiss”
  4. “I’ve Been Working”
  5. “Call Me Up In Dreamland”
  6. “I’ll Be Your Lover, Too”
  7. “Blue Money”
  8. “Virgo Clowns”
  9. “Gypsy Queen”
  10. “Sweet Jannie”
  11. “If I Ever Needed Someone”
  12. “Street Choir”
  13. “Call Me Up In Dreamland” (Take 10)
  14. “Give Me a Kiss” (Take 3)
  15. “Gypsy Queen” (Take 3)
  16. “I’ve Been Working” (Alternate Version)
  17. “I’ll Be Your Lover, Too” (Alternate Version)

Tracks 13-17 are previously unreleased.