Pop Culture Safari!

Vinyl box collects Velvet Underground 45 rpm singles

Sundazed Records is releasing a box set collecting seven 45 rpm singles by the Velvet Underground in replica packaging.

The seven singles included in The Velvet Underground Singles 1966–69 comprise the four Velvets singles originally released in the U.S. on the Verve and MGM labels, plus an additional pair of singles that were prepared for release but never made it to the marketplace and a special radio-only promotional single. The singles feature alternate mono versions that differ in significant ways from the songs' better-known stereo album versions. For instance, the band's 1966 debut single "All Tomorrow's Parties" appears here in a special mono edit that amplifies the song's melodic beauty and sonic tension, and a mono mix of their sophomore single "Sunday Morning" emphasizes the song's haunting quality. Meanwhile, the mono single version of "White Light/White Heat" exemplifies the vintage Velvets' stark, distortion-laden fury, while a mono edit of "What Goes On" accentuates that song's inherent pop jangle.

The Velvet Underground Singles 1966–69 also includes two unissued singles, one with a never-released pairing of "White Light/White Heat" backed by "I Heard Her Call My Name," and the other with "Temptation Inside Your Heart" and "Stephanie Says," recorded in the waning days of the band's classic Reed/Cale/Morrison/Tucker lineup and unheard by the public for nearly two decades thereafter. The set's seventh single is a reproduction of a vintage promotional disc, a two-and-a-half-minute radio spot promoting the band's eponymous third album and featuring legendary disc jockey Bill "Rosko" Mercer, with excerpts from "I’m Set Free," "What Goes On" and "Beginning to See the Light," as well as a picture sleeve with an un-airbrushed variation on the album's iconic cover art.

TRACK LISTING:

Single One
All Tomorrow's Parties / I'll Be Your Mirror—Verve VK-10427

Single Two
Sunday Morning / Femme Fatale—Verve VK-10466

Single Three
White Light/White Heat / Here She Comes Now—Verve VK-10560

Single Four
White Light/White Heat / I Heard Her Call My Name—Cancelled single

Single Five
Temptation Inside Your Heart / Stephanie Says—Cancelled single

Single Six
What Goes On / Jesus—MGM K-14057

Single Seven
VU Radio Spot / VU Radio Spot—MGM VU-1

CD new releases June 23, 2009: Cheap Trick; Regina Spektor; Transformers score; Mars Volta; R.E.M.; Little Richard; Isaac Hayes; CCR, more!

New CDs of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!

The Latest by Cheap Trick

Far by Regina Spektor

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen - The Score

Octahedron by The Mars Volta

Reckoning [2 CD Deluxe Edition] by R.E.M.

A Good Year For The Roses - The Complete Musicor Recordings 1965-1971 Part 2 (4CD) by George Jones

Rill Thing by Little Richard

Second Coming by Little Richard

Hot Buttered Soul by Isaac Hayes

40th Anniversary Editions Box Set (7 CD's) by Creedence Clearwater Revival

Lost in My Dream: An Anthology 1968-1974 by Spooky Tooth

A Rare Conundrum by Bert Jansch

L.A. Turnaround by Bert Jansch

Turn on, Tune in, Drop Out by Timothy Leary

Count Basie Plays Hefti by Count Basie

Shout by Lulu

Forever: The Complete Motown Albums, Vol. 1 by Marvelettes

DVD new releases June 23, 2009: Inkheart; Pink Panther 2; Tom and Jerry; John Lennon; more!

New releases of note this week. If any of these items are of interest to you, please consider clicking the titles and ordering them from Amazon, as part of the proceeds help support this site!

Inkheart

Pink Panther 2

Tom and Jerry: The Chuck Jones Collection

John Lennon & The Plastic Ono Band: Live in Toronto '69

My Dinner with Jimi

Vintage Star Wars buttons 2

Pop links: Heckle and Jeckle! Bernard Herrmann! Jack Kirby! Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland! Hembeck! Preview Battlestar Galactica: The Plan! More!

See Heckle and Jeckle visit King Tut's Tomb.

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Today in sharity: A hard-to-find album by Bernard Herrmann.

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Diversions of the Groovy Kind surveys some of Jack Kirby's awesome 1970s Marvel Comics cover art.

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USA Today previews concept art from Tim Burton's upcoming adaptation of "Alice in Wonderland."

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Cartoonist Fred Hembeck has contributed a nifty cover to the Steve Ditko zine Ditkomania.

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Mark Waid will script a Doctor Strange mini series for Marvel Comics.

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See a trailer for Battlestar Galactica: The Plan, a new prequel movie set to air in November.

Boom! Studios to publish Donald Duck, Mickey Mouse comics

As speculated, Boom! Studios has picked up the license to publish Donald Duck and Mickey Mouse comics for Disney. However, unlike Gemstone--which most recently held the license--Boom will be publishing new material, not classic reprints by Carl Barks and others.

According to Newsarama:

Walt Disney’s Comics and Stories #699 (by Riccardo Secchi and Stefano Turconi) and Mickey Mouse and Friends #297 (by Stefano Ambrosio and Lorenzo Pastrovicchio) will be out in September. Both titles will be 24 pages and carry a $2.99 cover price.

The comic creators are Italian, part of the large contingent of creators working for Disney Italia which has been actively producing new comics and properties for Disney and the European market (such as Paperinik - a superheroic world based around Donald Duck, W.I.T.C.H., Kylion,Monster Allergy and others) for years.

That said:

...the rights to publish the classic Disney Comics material is included in Boom’s license, and the publisher has plans for it. “We will be handling the classic material,” Richie said, declining to go into detail at this time. “We’re not going to abandon the fans that are buying that material, so we will have programs and products for them.”

Thank god.

Here are the solicits for the first two Boom! releases:

WALT DISNEY'S COMICS & STORIES #699
(W) Riccardo Secchi (A) Stefano Turconi
One of the longest-lived, greatest comics in history comes to BOOM! Studios! A direct market event — the title that was host to Walt Disney's most cherished characters that helped build a decades-spanning global empire, originally launched in 1942, has come to BOOM! Kids! Ever wondered what would happen when all the superheroes of the Disney comics universe star in an epic clash against all the super villains with the fate of the world at stake? Join The Duck Avenger, Super Goofy, and the man himself Mickey Mouse for an all-new team of heroes, an all-new era in Disney publishing! (C: 0-0-1)
24pgs, FC SRP: $2.99

MICKEY MOUSE & FRIENDS #296
(W) Stefano Ambrosio (A) Lorenzo Pastrovicchio
First BOOM! Kids issue! One of the longest-lived, most-successful comic book series in the industry's history comes to BOOM! and brings a little magic — presenting Wizards of Mickey! Student of the great wizard Grandalf, Mickey Mouse hails from the humble village of Miceland. Allying himself with Donald Duck and his pet dragon named Fafnir, and team mate Goofy, Mickey's come to the great tournament to get his revenge on Peg Leg Pete, who has stolen the Rain Crystal from Miceland! Join Mickey Mouse and his friends on an epic tale of magic and wonder! (C: 0-0-1)
SC, 24pgs, FC SRP: $2.99

This is good news, overall. More comics for kids! Both of my children are big fans of the Donald comics. I'm hoping the new stories are good. But I'm most excited by the prospect of more Barks reprints, ideally in large, book collections at some point. I've missed out on previous efforts to collect his material in those formats and very much want to get ahold of it.

Upcoming DC Showcase Presents volumes: World's Finest Vol. 3, Secrets of Sinister House

These titles just popped up on Amazon for early 2010 release. No further details yet.'

Showcase Presents World's Finest Vol. 3

Showcase Presents The Secrets of Sinister House This is likely an all-in-one collection of this 1970s horror anthology comic, which ran 18 issues (the first four issues went out under the title Sinister House of Secret Love