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Fever (Album of the Day)
Kylie Minogue's knack for self-reinvention and ability to anticipate the pop zeitgeist is surely on a par with that of Madonna. More than a decade after she first reached the Top 10 (with a cover of “The Loco-Motion”), Minogue returned to U.S. record stores with FEVER. Clearly the Australian performer spent her time away polishing her craft - with a small army of top producers at work, the collection boasts a gleaming studio sheen and 14 energetic dance-pop tracks. Among the irresistible singles are “In Your Eyes,” “Can't Get You Out of My Head,” the Grammy winning “Come into My World” and Pride-worthy anthem “Love at First Sight.” Coupled with a massive 2002 tour, FEVER became quite contagious, surpassing Platinum status to become Kylie Minogue's most successful album to date.
Curtis! (50th Anniversary) (Album of the Day)
As a founder of The Impressions, Curtis Mayfield played a key role in the development of soul; the singer-songwriter launched a solo career with a self-produced 1971 debut that boasts the same social awareness as his previous group while traversing tougher musical territory. Cut in Chicago, CURTIS serves up simmering funk and psychedelia on eight originals, including epic side openers "(Don't Worry) If There's a Hell Below, We're All Going to Go" and "Move On Up." Seen through the eyes of one of R&B's greatest poets, the collection offered a look at “what's going on” in black America during the Nixon years – though its compassion for all people makes the album timeless. Now available as a 180-gram pressing, a 50th Anniversary edition of CURTIS features a second LP of bonus tracks new to vinyl.
Jackie Brown: Music From The Miramax Motion Picture (Album of the Day)
Quentin Tarantino followed his Oscar win for Pulp Fiction with the equally audacious crime film Jackie Brown, starring Pam Grier as a smuggler in search of a big payday. As in most Tarantino films, music plays a key role and the 1997 soundtrack album features a highly listenable mix of radio hits and off-the-beaten-path tracks with a bit of movie dialogue sprinkled in. Given the film's debt to '70s blaxploitation, vintage R&B from the likes of Bobby Womack, Bill Withers and The Delfonics predominates, but there are also a few cool curveballs thrown in (such as Johnny Cash's “Tennessee Stud”). As part of Rhino's summer soundtracks campaign, JACKIE BROWN: MUSIC FROM THE MIRAMAX MOTION PICTURE is now available at indie retail as a limited edition blue vinyl pressing.
Tiny Music... Songs from the Vatican Gift Shop (25th Anniversary Edition) (Album of the Day)
Stone Temple Pilots embraced experimentation and open-mindedness to make their third album, 1996’s TINY MUSIC ... SONGS FROM THE VATICAN GIFT SHOP. It was recorded with longtime producer Brendan O’Brien at a home studio in California’s Santa Ynez Valley and the 25,000-square-foot house became a muse for STP, who recorded in different rooms – from the attic to the garden – to explore new sounds. The Atlantic collection is a pitch-perfect amalgamation of the band members’ musical personalities, yielding three #1 hits - “Big Bang Baby,” “Lady Picture Show” and “Trippin’ On A Hole In A Paper Heart.” Just in time for the album’s 25th anniversary, the new 3-CD/1-LP TINY MUSIC … SONGS FROM THE VATICAN GIFT SHOP: SUPER DELUXE EDITION includes a disc of early versions, instrumental and alternate mixes of album tracks plus a previously unreleased 1997 concert from Panama City Beach, Florida.
The Time (Album of the Day)
Prince's contract with Warner Bros. allowed him to release side projects with other artists on the label; perhaps the most successful of these acts was The Time; the Minneapolis band included old friend Morris Day and the future production team of Jimmy Jam and Terry Lewis. But other than Day's vocals, you won't hear much of them on THE TIME – employing the pseudonym “Jamie Starr,” Prince wrote most of the songs and played virtually all of the instruments. Consequently, the six long-ish tracks here feature salacious synth-funk that would sound right at home on the Purple One's DIRTY MIND. Both “Get It Up” and “Cool” reached the Top 10 on the R&B chart, and from uptempo dance songs to slinky slow jams, the collection remains an ideal album to play when it's party time. THE TIME was released 40 years ago today, and has just been re-released on colored vinyl.
Blake Shelton (Album of the Day)
In the last decade, Blake Shelton has become a household name thanks to his appearances on NBC-TV's The Voice but back in 2001, he was just another aspiring country singer – albeit a tremendously promising one. Shelton's self-titled debut from that year was produced by one of his mentors, veteran songwriter Bobby Braddock, and as you'd expect, the 10 tracks on the Warner Bros. collection are varied, memorable and unafraid to go beyond Nashville niceties. Blake co-wrote four of these including Country Top 20 single “All Over Me”; “Ol' Red” and “Austin” - which spent five weeks at No.1 – were even bigger hits. Well crafted and performed with conviction, the platinum-certified BLAKE SHELTON celebrates its 20th anniversary tomorrow and shows the singer-songwriter primed for stardom.
Torch (Album of the Day)
Though Carly Simon is herself an acclaimed songwriter, she lets the likes of Hoagy Carmichael, Duke Ellington and Rodgers & Hart do the honors on TORCH, one of the first – and best – modern collections drawn from the Great American Songbook. Whether or not Simon's impending divorce from singer James Taylor played a role in the song selection, she sounds utterly convincing on such ballads of romantic regret as “Hurt” and Stephen Sondheim's “Not a Day Goes By.” Producer Mike Mainieri assembled top players including saxophonist David Sanborn and guitarists Lee Ritenour and Hugh McCracken to provide a jazz-influenced backdrop for Carly's sultry vocals. TORCH just celebrated its 40th anniversary, and like fine wine, it gets better with each passing year.
Bad Company (Deluxe) (Album of the Day)
Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Paul Rodgers, drummer Simon Kirke (both from Free), guitarist/songwriter Mick Ralphs (from Mott The Hoople) and bassist Boz Burrell (from King Crimson) became one of the most successful supergroups of the 1970 when they joined forces as Bad Company. Signing with Led Zeppelin's Swan Song label, the quartet's self-titled debut soared to No.1 on the U.S. chart on this day in 1974. Of the eight originals on the album, more than half would spend years in rotation on AOR and classic rock radio - “Rock Steady,” “Ready For Love,” “Movin’ On,” the title song and the #5 hit “Can’t Get Enough.” The 5x platinum BAD COMPANY remains a milestone of blues-based hard rock, and Rhino's Deluxe Edition of the album features remastered sound from the original multi-tracks and a bonus disc of B-sides, demo and alternate versions.
ARETHA (Album of the Day)
Aretha Franklin's multi-octave voice moved millions around the world during an unrivaled reign as the Queen of Soul that spanned six decades and garnered the singer-songwriter every achievement and honor imaginable. Arriving shortly before the premiere of Respect, the highly anticipated biopic starring Jennifer Hudson as the performer, the 4-CD boxed set ARETHA is the first to span Franklin's entire career. Among the collection’s 81 newly remastered tracks, 19 are making their CD and digital debuts, including alternate versions of classic hits, demos, rarities and live tracks. While the majority of the set is dedicated to her tenure with Atlantic Records between 1967 and 1979, ARETHA also includes her first single from 1956, highlights from her stints with Columbia and Arista, unreleased recordings for producer Quincy Jones, television appearances and her jaw-dropping live performance of “Nessun Dorma.”
The King of the Stroll (Album of the Day)
Atlanta-born singer and songwriter Harold "Chuck" Willis had scored a string of R&B hits for Okeh Records before Atlantic picked up his contract for 1958's KING OF THE STROLL. Given that nickname when his music proved popular with American Bandstand dancers as they did “the stroll,” Willis was a master of easy-rolling rhythms but could also turn up the tempo effectively when needed. This set of fine originals includes successful singles “Juanita,” “My Life” and “It's Too Late” – the last of which would be covered by Buddy Holly and The Crickets, Otis Redding and Derek and the Dominos, among others. Peritonitis would claim him before he could enjoy his status as a rock and roll pioneer, but Chuck Willis will be forever enshrined as the KING OF THE STROLL.