IN MEMORIAM: TOP VINYL LIST OF THE DEPARTED |
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by Michael-Patrick Harrington Since the untimely death of lead singer/pianist/guitarist Freddie Mercury in 1991, Queen has consistently been in the music news: from the Freddie Mercury Tribute Concert (and a subsequent EP with George Michael) to Brian May and Roger Taylor touring as Queen, first with Paul Rodgers (Free, Bad Company) and currently with Adam Lambert—not to mention the behind-the-scenes tumult involved in making a Queen movie. The biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, arrived in 2018 with fact-checkers tearing their hair out while Rami Malek collected Best Actor awards at the Oscars and the Golden Globes. At times it feels as if Queen never went away. Here are a few compilations we can’t stop playing! Forever {4 LP box set that includes a bonus 12” single} (2015—Virgin Records). Greatest Hits {2 LPs} (2016—Hollywood Record) Queen on Air {3 LPs} (2016—Hollywood Records) Bohemian Rhapsody {2 LPs} (2019—Hollywood Records) David Bowie’s passing in 2016 was a blow, especially since he’d just returned to us with his first album since 2003’s Reality. That album (2013’s The Next Day) and 2016’s Blackstar, released just before the Starman’s untimely departure, were game changers. Blackstar was suffused with jazz, and the Thin White Duke even leapt into the Great White Way with Lazarus, a musical based on his music. What would he have come up with next? While we’ll never know the answer, we can look at his past from the different perspectives offered by the superior Bowie boxes, especially those from Rhino. Five Years: 1969-1973 {13 LPs} (2015—Rhino/Parlophone) Who Can I Be Now?: 1974-1976 {13 LPs} (2016—Rhinno/Parlophone) A New Career in a New Town: 1977-1982 {13 LPs} (2017—Rhinno/Parlophone) Loving the Alien 1983-1988 {15 LPs} (2018—Rhino/Parlophone) This was a tricky time in Bowie’s story. Let’s Dance was a smash, but the follow-ups, Tonight and Never Let Me Down, were not well-received. However, there is much to enjoy, even love, if these albums are given a second chance. All three are included in the box along with two live records, Serious Moonlight Live ’83 and Glass Spider Live Montreal ’87. The box also has an alternate mix of Never Let Me Down (the original is here too) and a record entitled Dance, which includes all of the 12” remix versions of various singles. The rarities platter is chock full of goodies: “Absolute Beginners,” “This is Not America,” all the Bowie tracks from the Labyrinth soundtrack, duets with Mick Jagger and Tina Turner (and more). Revisit this era from a different perspective! Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers were more plainspoken than Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band and didn’t jump genres like their British counterparts, Elvis Costello & the Attractions. But Petty’s songwriting was every bit as poetic as Bruce’s, and his worldview was as inclusive as Elvis’. “Laconic” is a word often used to describe Petty’s brand of Americana, and while it’s true—there was the very Southern, laid back, side to his approach—at times the songs could barely hold in his excitement. They frequently reached through the radio and throttled listeners with an urgency to grab every piece of life that was in reach—and some of those that weren’t. Petty, at the time of his death, was on an upswing, having just released two Heartbreakers albums back-to-back, followed by the second offering of Mudcrutch, his reincarnated pre-Heartbreakers band. Whether you’re late to the party or a hardcore fan, there are some excellent box sets for the vinyl fiends out there. Prepare to immerse yourself! An American Treasure {6 LPs} (2018—Reprise) The Best of Everything: The Definitive Career Spanning Collection {4 LPs} (2019) – This is the greatest hit collection to end all greatest hits collections! It spans Petty’s entire career, from the first Heartbreakers album to Mudcrutch 2. (Like An American Treasure, it passes over the Traveling Wilburys and Unchained, their album with Johnny Cash.) While one can always quibble about a compilation’s track listing, this set is so thorough that you’ll be too busy listening to Petty’s journey to bother! It includes the previously unreleased track “For Real” plus the Stevie Nicks’ version of “Stop Draggin’ My Heart Around” (recorded with Tom & the band.) The Live Anthology {7 LPs} (2009) This amazing set culls live tracks from various Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers’ tours, 1978-2007. Besides the stellar originals, there are a plethora of covers including: Fleetwood Mac’s “Oh Well,” the theme from Goldfinger, the Zombies’ “I Want You Back Again,” James Brown’s “Good, Good Lovin’,” the Grateful Dead’s “Friend of the Devil,” and Booker T. and the MGs’ “Green Onions.” Traveling Wilburys Collection Box {3 LPs} (2016) All the Petty collections skip over the Traveling Wilburys, but this set, which thrilled us to no end, is indispensible. It includes both remastered Wilbury albums plus a third platter of rarities and extended versions. The prolific, multi-talented Prince released some 40 albums in his lifetime. For the music fiend, the question is where to start: the ‘80s art funk of 1999, the Hendrix-y rock’n’roll of Purple Rain, the psychedelic Around the World in a Day, the skinny dance floor moves of 3121, the eclectic sparse Sign O’the Times, his ’94 “comeback” Musicology? We dug through all our Prince albums to come up with a couple great places to start off. 4Ever {4 LPs} (2017) This is an excellent place to start for both the uninitiated and the stone-cold fan. Focusing on the Warner Brothers years, the set includes the previously unreleased “Moonbeam Levels.” It also includes “Peach” from The Hits/The B-Sides, as well as Prince’s version of “Nothing Compares 2 U.” This set features tracks from 9 albums (1978’s For You to 1992’s Love Symbol). This is the first compilation to include a track from the Batman soundtrack. It begins with the big hitters, dips back into the start of his career, and expands out into slightly more experimental tracks such as “If I Was Girlfriend.” Note: his later years are covered in the download-only Anthology 1995-2010. Purple Rain (1984) There is a bit of a dilemma here. The beautifully remastered album is available both on vinyl and CD. But Purple Rain Deluxe is, for some unknown reason, only available on CD, in two configurations. There is a 4 CD set that includes a disc of tracks from the Vault, a disc of b-sides and single edits, and a DVD of a Purple Rain-era show in Syracuse, NY, 1985. There is also a 2 CD set that has the Vault tracks on the second disc. While we wait for a vinyl version to appear, we picked up both the 4 CD and the 2 CD set, and the sound is excellent—but would sound better on vinyl! The Queen of Soul’s first single was released in 1956, and she gave her last full concert in 2017. That’s 61 years of entertaining, and when Aretha died in 2018, she left behind a formidable body of work. While celebrating her music after her passing, many of us danced across kitchens and living rooms to “Respect” and “Chain of Fools.” For us vinyl fiends, there were two posthumous releases that are essential to understanding the genius that was Aretha. These sets not only cover her most fertile period but bring home the gospel sound that was never very far from her voice. Both of these sets are worth owning! Get your Aretha on! The Atlantic Singles Collection 1967-1970 {2 LPs}(2018) Although she signed with Atlantic Records in 1966 and left in 1979, it was during the four years documented in this set that cemented Aretha’s legend. Working with producer Jerry Wexler and recording with Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section (nicknamed the Swampers), which included such legends as guitarist Jimmy Johnson and organist/pianist Spooner Oldham, Aretha brought her gospel background to songs by Carole King, Gerry Goffin, and Don Covay, among others. Backed by a band of all-white Southerners and produced by a music journalist-turned-producer, Aretha dipped her soaring voice into the muddy swamp of the south, creating a sound that other legends, such as Wilson Pickett, Ray Charles, and Dusty Springfield, would incorporate into their own complex music. Aretha’s sound influenced those outside of the R&B world too: one of her young session players was Duane Allman, founder of the swamped-drenched Allman Brothers Band. If Martians landed on Earth and you wanted to explain what R&B is, this record would do the job and then some. “Do Right Woman, Do Right Man,” “I Say a Little Prayer,” “Respect,” “I Never Loved a Man (The Way I Loved You)”— they’re all here in this set (in glorious mono) and much more! Amazing Grace: The Complete Recordings {4 LPs} (2018) In 1972, Aretha proved that you can go home again when she released Amazing Grace, a double album of gospel recorded before a live audience with Rev. James Cleveland and the Southern California Community Choir. It’s still the bestselling live gospel album of all time (and also Aretha’s biggest LP release), and no wonder: the record was groundbreaking, and some fans and critics believe it is her best work. This set expands the original 14 tracks to 29 and includes everything Franklin and company recorded during the show. It simply has to be heard to be believed, and you do NOT have to be religious to soak in what Aretha is putting out here. Her concerns and her all-encompassing love transcend any particular faith. “Turn off your mind, relax, and float downstream,” sang a great man, and that is my recommendation to you. MORE TO COME! HotWacks.Com |
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