Rhino is likely the label many folks think of first when it comes to reissue labels. The company has earned a justifiably great reputation for putting out excellent reissues, particularly box set compilations.
Some of my all-time favorite music releases are Rhino products. They've done a great job mining garage/psych/pop treasures in their Nuggets releases, 1960s soul in its Beg, Scream, Shout set (shaped like a vintage carrying case for 45 r.p.m. singles), rockabilly and early rock'n'roll in its Loud, Fast and Out of Control box, plus excellent collections of doo-wop and surf.
I also enjoy their collection of Jack Kerouac's spoken-word recordings and their top-notch Burt Bacharach compilation.
They've also released a box set and numerous single-disk compilations of 1970s guilty pleasures, plus loads of Monkees releases (the Monkees and Rhino are nearly synonymous).
A large section of my iPod's hard drive is filled with songs from Rhino releases. It's on permanent shuffle, and it's great to have all those great songs, both hits and obscurities, pop up as I'm listening.
Rhino certainly caters to musical obsessives, but when they really want to turn it up a notch, they'll put something out on their Rhino Handmade label. This is where they issue sometimes less known or more cult material -- all excellently packaged and mostly in limited release.
Handmade products include an awesome collection of soulman Wilson Pickett's Atlantic recordings, a reissue of Jan and Dean's Carnival of Sound and a deluxe edition of the Monkee's Head LP.
Check out the Rhino site here.
Here's a list of some of Rhino's most popular releases. Click the links to order discounted items from Amazon:
Bradley's Barn by the Beau Brummels
Atlantic Recordings by Percy Sledge
The Smiths Complete
Weird Tales of the Ramones (Bonus Dvd)
Genesis Box Set 3 (1970-1975)[13 Disc Set]
Mythology (4 CD) by the Bee Gees
Faces Box: Five Guys Walk Into a Bar by the Faces
Keep An Eye On The Sky by Big Star
What It Is! Funky Soul And Rare Grooves (1967-1977)
Where The Action Is! Los Angeles Nuggets 1965-1968
Do you think Rhino is still Rhino, after Richard Foos sold out (and now owns Shout!Factory)?
ReplyDeleteI follow the releases more than ownership of these companies. That said, I think Rhino WAS stronger under Foos, but they've released a number of great sets in recent years. The L.A. Nuggets being a good example. Shout! seems to be a tad more generalist, great hits-oriented, it seems, with all its release tie-ins to those baby boomer-oriented PBS specials. They do great stuff in terms of DVD, though!
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