Joni Mitchell / Archives Volume 1: The Early Years 1963-1967 box set
Joni Mitchell opens her vaults for the first time for the Joni Mitchell Archives, a new series of box set releases that will span the next few years and start NEXT MONTH with a five-disc box set, Archives – Volume 1 and two associated vinyl releases.
U2’s ‘All That You Can’t Leave Behind’ is reissued for its 20th anniversary
U2‘s tenth studio album, All That You Can’t Leave Behind, is reissued for its 20th anniversary. Formats include a massive 11LP vinyl super deluxe and a five-CD set.
Motörhead / Ace of Spades box set
Motörhead‘s 1980 album, Ace of Spades, is reissued as a vinyl-heavy 7LP+10″+DVD box set that offers a remastered album, live performances and rarities as well as a 5.1 mix of the album.
Depeche Mode / Songs Of Faith And Devotion: The 12″ Singles box
Sony continue with their Depeche Mode 12-inch box sets with Songs of Faith And Devotion: The 12″ Singles, an eight record set.
Bob Mould / Distortion vinyl & CD boxes
Demon Music issue Distortion: 1989 – 1995 and Distortion: 1989-2019, respectively 8LP vinyl and 24CD box sets that chronicle of the solo career of Bob Mould and his band Sugar.
Tangerine Dream / Pilots of Purple Twilight: Virgin Recordings 1980-83
Tangerine Dream follow up their superb In Search of Hades box set with another Virgin-era package. Pilots of the Purple Twilight: The Virgin Recordings 1980-1983 showcases the next chapter and features newly remastered versions of the albums Tangram, Thief, Exit, White Eagle, Logos, Hyperborea along with the previously unreleased soundtracks.
Half-speed mastered 2LP vinyl leads ABBA ‘Super Trouper’ reissue
ABBA‘s 1980 album Super Trouper will be reissued as a 40th anniversary 2LP half-speed mastered pressing next month, along with the now traditional singles box and seven-inch picture discs.
Elvis Costello releases a new album called ‘Hey Clockface’
Elvis Costello returns with a new album, Hey Clockface. The CD was issued a couple of weeks ago but vinyl is released on Friday.
‘Brilliant Live Adventures’: Parlophone announce six 90s-era Bowie live albums
If you are still on board after ’emptyboxgate’, Parlophone this week kick off their series of David Bowie ‘Brilliant Live Adventures’ live albums with Ouvrez Le Chien.
The Who / Who seven-inch box
The Who release a two-CD deluxe edition of last year’s very well received WHO album. The seven-inch vinyl box isn’t out until December.
The Style Council / Long Hot Summers: The Story of The Style Council
Long Hot Summers: The Story of The Style Council is a new Style Council greatest hits that is available on 3LP vinyl and 2CD.
Embrace vinyl reissues
British band Embrace‘s two albums released on the Independiente label in the ‘noughties’ – Out of Nothing and This New Day – are reissued on vinyl.
Bananarama / Really Saying Something: New memoir by Sara and Keren
Sara Dallin and Keren Woodward tell the story of Bananaramma in Really Saying Something, a new memoir. SIGNED copies still available.
Uriah Heep / 50 Years in Rock
Massive 23CD+LP box set. Copies with a T-shirt and SIGNED art print are available.
Compare prices and pre-order
Uriah Heep
50 Years in Rock box set
Various Artists / The Christmas Album (vinyl LP)
Not the most inventive of titles and I’m not sure who signed off that cover art, but this is actually not a bad effort from Sony, with 35 festive tracks (including most of the ‘regulars’) across two LPs. It’s certainly miles better than Universal’s stingy 12-track The Christmas Album from 2016.
Bob Mould arrived this morning ordered the ltd signed edition,guess what no signed print just the standard box set.
Disappointed why do amazon do this,if they do have not sufficient stock.
Packaged up to be sent back for a refund.
Waste of time and effort on my part,why do I bother with amazon?
Re the Bob Mould signed CD box. I have just had another email form Amazon saying they are still trying to source. Perhaps Bob has a sore hand. To be honest, I am not even that bothered whether I get a signed one.
Just saw on Amazon US the Bob set is available again but now says it ships in 1-2 months…what does that mean for the 750 of us who are waiting for our signed copies?? Just received last night…the John Prine box (classy, cool & simple, like John himself), this interesting 3CD box on Grapefruit, “Bubblerock Is Here To Stay: the British Pop Explosion 1970-73”, & the Kiki Dee Fontana/Motown box…it wasn’t signed…I guess you were wrong Paul in saying every copy coming from Amazon UK is signed…luckily I have a confirmed signed second copy coming in a week & I am selling the unsigned one to a friend, luckily it was in my saved for later cart, just in case…it is a nice classy piece regardless, with lots of cool photos…
Just got my signed copy of Bananaramas book through the post. Should be a good read.
The Uriah Heep box set is simply amazing, everything they’ve recorded in one place – now that’s what I call a super deluxe edition!
Not really. All of the extras on previous releases are missing. These are just the basic album tracks. And 4 cds “curated” by the band which just rehash stuff that’s already there. Should have followed the Big Nazareth box with a plethora of car with all the rarities, single mixed etc.
I suspect Elvis “I hate CDs” Costello will live to eat his words. He’s chosen about the worst time economically to take the piss out of his fans and flog them a thrice-dead horse for £250. Even if he’s able to flog this to a few select vinyl investors, his hard-core fans will mostly not play ball.
Spot on daveid76.
Me thinks he has been swayed far too easily by his marketing team who have themselves been rather too immersed in that pesky hipsterism, style over substance and rampant over-commercialisation so prevalent in Elvis’s home of the US of A.
Fantastic album…rather poor boxset.
A lovely white elephant for £250!!
Also out this week on cd and vinyl: Amy MacDonald ‘The Human Demands’. Will she ever match the brilliance of her debut album ‘This Is The Life’? The first single was promising.
Is that Christmas album going to be released on the demonstrably inferior CD? I would actually pick it up in a second if it were a double CD. Good collection on there and would also then be able to easily skip the few I don’t care for.
The latest Now 5CD set – Now 100 Hits Christmas – has had a re-vamp for 2020 (also released on October 30th), adding in most of the big-hitters which were missing from the original 2019 version (Wham, Mud, Wizzard, Pretenders, Chris Rea, Coldplay, East 17, The Darkness, Pogues/Kirsty, Cliff Richard x 2, Aled Jones, Kylie Minogue) making it a much stronger set. Still no Queen or Maria Carey though.
This includes the majority of the tracks from the new Christmas Album vinyl set (missing Queen, Mel & Kim, Ronettes and a couple of lesser tracks from Side D).
It looks like for Amazon US that the Motorhead box has been delayed until November 20th.
Six of the Tangerine Dream albums are being released as separate single discs this week. It appears the extra tracks and remastering are carried over from the box. Naturally the previously unreleased titles are still exclusive to the box set but the pre-order price of the single discs is fantastic value. Kudos to Universal (and I suspect Wouter) for the transparency in releasing these at the same time.
The next Grateful Dead 50th anniversary reissue is out on Friday. “American Beauty”: The three-CD set includes the original album with newly remastered audio, plus an unreleased concert recorded on February 18, 1971 at the Capitol Theatre in Port Chester, NY. The show was mixed from the 16-track analog master tapes by Jeffrey Norman at Bob Weir’s Marin County TRI Studios and mastered by Grammy Award-winning engineer, David Glasser.
I’m with you Paul. This is what I am looking forward to.
The Dead’s releases usually get a mention.
Pete
The Christmas Album does not feature A Spaceman Came Travelling……should be first one on there.
Phil Spector and Low’s Christmas albums are my annual recordings of choice to listen to.
I quite like the ‘The Christmas Album’ artwork. A tree and a present is – for me – the perfect representation. Here in the southern hemisphere we’re in Spring heading for Summer, so all that snowmen and sleigh rides and winter wonderland nonsense leaves me cold (no pun intended).
Of course, most Christmas releases come from northern hemisphere artists/companies so I let it slide. But when an Australian artist is singing ‘Let It Snow!’ or ‘Baby, It’s Cold Outside’, when it’s actually 40C degrees and half the country is on fire, I tend to roll my eyes.
My only real complaint about ‘The Christmas Album’ is that IT’S ONLY OCTOBER!!!!! The stores and supermarkets are still full of Halloween shit and now I have to wade through all the Christmas crap that gets dumped on top of it. And it will just get worse over the next 8 weeks. Until New Year’s Day, when they bring out the fucking Easter eggs and hot cross buns. *sigh*
To be fair it’s LATE October, so I think it’s fair enough. Basically six-ish weeks to sell the product.
I’ve just been in IKEA, believe me… its Christmas!
Is Elvis the first person to offer a face mask as part of the accompanying merchandise for his new release?
No. Gentle Giant did the same thing with their 1978 album Giant For A Day. Admittedly you did have to cut the mask out of the front cover of the album! Now you know why you have never seena anybody ever wearing a Gentle Giant mask.
An excellent looking Free Design box set is coming out soon. All their albums from 1967 to 1972 as well as mono versions, single edits and B Sides. The Cherry Red site has the details.
The 35 track Christmas album does look like an improved effort although side 4 is a bit 1950s / 60s.
There are two albums which I view as classic and they each have unique yet indispensable songs which knock marks off each other. Virgin’s “The Christmas Album” (15 original hits from 1985) has Wham! and Gary Glitter (gulp) in it’s arsenal, both of which are kinda essential, to me at any rate and EMIs It’s Christmas (18 original hits from 1989) has the unique Bongo version of Kate Bush’s “December will be magic again” (it’s vital for that track alone) and Chris De Burgh’s “A Spaceman Came Travelling”. I would even throw in “Walking in The Air” as pretty much essential.
So for a 35 track double album to be missing so many gold standards is odd (Glitter being the disappointing, but understandable, exception). Yes it ain’t bad but only a 7 out of 10 without the above tracks. It would have been 6/10 but with Frankie and ABBA it claws back a point.
The 2016 Now Christmas vinyl had Wizzard, Wham!, Pogues/Kirsty and Chris Rea among its stingy 12 tracks. The other main “regulars” missing from the new double LP are Chris De Burgh, Mud, Aled Jones, Pretenders, (the non-Christmasy) East-17 and Cliff Richard.
Also missing is the rarely-compiled Maria Carey.
Still – not bad value for what you DO get.
Since when has something being “a bit 1950s / 60s” been a bad thing! :-)
The No 1 Christmas album on CD has all the tracks you mention. The only one missing is ABBA. It was released around 1997 on Polygram records. And is a 2cd set. I’ve had it years now, obviously, and it still gets a spin every Xmas. Is pretty much the only Xmas CD anybody needs. It’s all on there.
The only Showaddywaddy single I ever bought (or liked) was their 1974 Christmas hit “Hey Mister Christmas”. I’ve always wondered why it wasn’t included on the original “Now thats what I call music – The Christmas Album” back in 1985. It’s as good as anything on there, and all 18 tracks have become staples of virtually every Christmas compilation since. whilst Hey Mister Christmas seems all but forgotten.
The thought of the royalties that band have missed out on down the years through not making it onto the original NTWICM Christmas Album must make them weep over their mince pies every year.
With you there. Great song
It’s also the only Showaddywaddy single I’ve really ever liked.
Reached No. 13 as well.
New Eels album Earth to Dora is out on Friday.
The Eels new album and deluxe set is out this week too. Earth to Dora. Most of the box sets have now sold out
Cherry Red add to their Fall Sound Archive releases on Friday with a 3CD/2LP edition of The Fall’s “Imperial Wax Solvent”. Triple CD includes the album (o/p since 2008), the complete unreleased version of the album as mixed by Grant Showbiz (including some alternate performances, an unreleased song and some unheard sections recorded for what became “50 Year Old Man”) and a full live set from the tour supporting the album’s release. The 2LP set has the album and Showbiz version on splatter vinyl with printed inner sleeves.
It’s one of the more neglected albums, largely because of how quickly it was deleted. Maybe now it’ll get some of the love and attention it deserves.
Re the Bob Mould signed Amazon Exclusive edition (24 CD). I pre-ordered it on the day it was listed. Unsurprisingly, it now says unavailable to pre-order but on my own pre-order it simply states ‘We will email you when we have an estimated delivery date’. It has remained like this since I pre-ordered it in August. So even though 30th August is the stated release date for the standard edition on Amzon, the signed print ones seem to be in limbo even now.
Yup same here for the Mould signed box. What’s going on with it?
Yeah what is up Bob?? First release date Oct 2, then pushed to the 23rd, now the 30th…is it even coming?? Anyone have a copy?? Were we scammed?? Nah, kidding…have a feeling it’s a slow rollout as certain countries got it before others…maybe Bob took his time signing, maybe they added the RSD piece “Circle Of Friends” at the last minute and it held up production of the boxes??? My copy is a bday gift, so when it comes it comes…
Just a reminder that the new Style Council documentary that’s related to the compilation airs on Saturday at 9pm on Sky Arts (which I think is now also on Freeview).
Thanks Barry – I would likely have missed this if I hadn’t seen your comment.
I guess Americans are out of luck.
The 3LP coloured vinyl version is available on Universal now after being ‘sold out’ for a long time.