Our picks this week. Click the links to order from Amazon.
In the late summer of 1966, manufactured pop quartet The Monkees - a Beatles-inspired concept inevitably nicknamed the Prefab Four - made their TV and vinyl debut. Overseen by industry veteran Don Kirshner, whose Brill Building-honed team supplied most of the songs, The Monkees was aimed at the pre-teen market effectively disenfranchised by the increasingly sophisticated nature of mid-60s pop.
The venture's runaway success encouraged numerous other backroom songwriting/ production teams to step forward, with the New York-based Kasenetz-Katz partnership coining the term "bubblegum" as shorthand for the manufactured pop process.
Kasenetz-Katz hit big with such names as Ohio Express, 1910 Fruitgum Co. And Crazy Elephant, while Don Kirshner and his favored producer Jeff Barry - both sidelined when The Monkees rose up against their puppet masters - returned with cartoon pop group The Archies and the biggest-selling single of 1969, 'Sugar, Sugar'.
Pour A Little Sugar On It examines the bubblegum phenomenon in forensic detail, with all of the aforementioned acts joined by hits from The Lemon Pipers, Tommy Roe, Tommy James & The Shondells, The Cuff Links, The Box Tops, Lou Christie, Andy Kim and others as well as numerous cult 45s (The Rasberry Pirates, Cartoon Candy Carnival, The Four Fuller Brothers, etc.).
Also featuring some unlikely names who occasionally left their fingerprints in the sticky stuff (The Electric Prunes, The Beach Boys, Sparks, Velvet Underground), 'Pour A Little Sugar On It' is housed in a 3CD clamshell box that includes a 48-page booklet with rare photos and the stories behind all 91 tracks. It's gonna make your life so sweet.
After hitting the charts in 1968, Dave Edmunds began a spectacular career as a writer, performer, and producer. Signing with Swan Song Records, all of the pieces of the puzzle would fit into place.
Beginning with “Here Comes The Weekend” (co-written with Nick Lowe), Dave began a stellar run on the charts, showcasing his propensity for, and ability to bring a “classic” sound back to the airwaves, and to remember where all of those sounds came from.
Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981 reveals the magic of the 7” singe in a way that has yet to be explored. 39 tracks, covering every A- and B-side from that period, guide the listener through that pivotal time when listeners heard what they liked and liked what they heard.
Funny thing is, if you missed them the first time, you heard them later… From covers of contemporaries Graham Parker, Elvis Costello, and beyond, these Swan Songs all meld into Chuck Berry, Rodgers & Hart, and more.
They’re the songs you know and love, played with the passion of their roots. Huey Lewis & The News had a huge hit with “Bad Is Bad,” but Dave released it in 1979. Same with Hank DeVito’s “Queen Of Hearts,” with Juice Newton took onto the US airwaves years later. Bob Seger’s “Get Out Of Denver,” John Fogerty’s “Almost Saturday Night”—classics and stunning originals, this was the time where music ruled, and it is collected here on Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981.
With new mastering and restoration from multiple Grammy-winner Michael Graves, the packaging of this double-CD and double-LP features a look at picture sleeves that 7” collectors cherish, as well as detailed liner notes from Joe Marchese (theseconddisc.com) which outline Edmunds’ roots and trajectory from performer and band leader, to super producer (including his work with Stray Cats, as featured on their version of “The Race Is On”).
Swan Songs: The Singles 1976–1981 is truly the definitive look at Dave Edmunds: the artist—whether with his incredible guitar tone, his signature production style, or his ability to make every song distinctive, and truly his own.
Skylarking: XTC's most commercially successful album was, for many years, also it's most mythical with tales of "lost" multi-track tapes (sadly true of other XTC albums but not this one), a song originally dropped from the album only to be replaced when it inadvertently became a hit single in the USA, a perfect match, on paper, between the ideal Britpop band a decade before the term was invented & an Anglophile super-producer that turned rather imperfect in personality terms but still resulted in a classic album. The Blu-ray also includes the 2016 mixes in DTS-HD MA 5. 1 Surround, 24/96 Hi-Res Stereo plus instrumental versions - all mixed by Steven Wilson.
Demon Records celebrates Tom Baker's unique portrayal of the famous Time Lord, almost 50 years after he made his screen debut in the role on 28 December 1974.
This set blends thrilling audio drama with interviews and readings by the man himself. Genesis of the Daleks is the original 1979 album version of the legendary TV serial, whilst Doctor Who and the Pescatonsis the exclusive audio drama first released in 1976. Exploration Earth: The Time Machine was specially produced by BBC Schools Radio in 1976, and The State of Decay - available here on CD for the first time - is a unique audiobook reading from 1982.
The collection is completed by Tom Baker in His Own Words, a selection of BBC radio appearances recorded in the 1970s and 1980s. With an eye-catching Fourth Doctor front cover, the deluxe gatefold packaging houses 4 CDs in individual sleeves, plus a full colour booklet with cast, credits and tracklisting information.
Co-starring Elisabeth Sladen, Ian Marter, Bill Mitchell and John Westbrook, and accompanied by the BBC Radiophonic Workshop's familiar Doctor Who theme, these dramas, readings and interviews are a fitting way to celebrate one of the most celebrated Doctors of all.
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