Sam Cooke’s landmark full-length Ain’t That Good News, notable for being the last studio album released during his lifetime was originally released in March 1964, just nine months before Cooke’s untimely passing. The album features hit songs such as “Another Saturday Night,” “Ain’t That Good News,” “Good Times,” as well as the iconic “A Change Is Gonna Come,” which became an anthem for the U.S. Civil Rights Movement.
The Complete Keen Years: 1957–1960, collects Sam Cooke’s body of work as he began releasing secular albums, stepping away from the Soul Stirrers where he found great success as a gospel singer. Cooke had been releasing and dominating the gospel sales market over the six years previous to “You Send Me” and “Summertime” being released. Within this newly remastered collection are his unique versions of standards alongside performances that showcase his songwriting skills. Sam Cooke defined himself as a voice ahead of his time elevating the sound of soul at the turn of the decade.
The now timeless “You Send Me,” Sam Cooke’s 1957 Keen Records debut, was a landmark recording on multiple levels. Composed by the artist, it was his very first #1 record and groundbreaking in no uncertain terms: a pop record by a gospel great that created the template for what would come to be known as “soul.” Cooke’s easy manner, bell-clear intonation and truly spectacular vocal ability set him apart from all others in both pop and R&B. This holds true today, on the eve of his 90th birthday, just as it did at the dawn of his secular career.
Sam Cooke was very much at home in the recording studio and the many tracks he cut over the course of nearly three years for John and Alex Siamas’s Keen label reflect his massive talent at a turning point. The Complete Keen Years, sourced directly from recently recovered original master tape reels, offers an unparalleled listening experience thanks to years of painstaking research that has yielded tracks from the original tape reels from which Cooke’s Keen albums and singles were mastered in the late 1950s and early 1960s. For The Siamas brothers, the record label was second to their primary business providing aircraft parts to the aerospace industry. Sometime after the label shuttered, the original masters went missing. It was fortuitous that a search of an airplane hangar yielded the tapes and now, for the first time in more than five decades, they are again the source for this precious Sam Cooke material.
The Complete Keen Years: 1957–1960 offers the Sam Cooke aficionado an opportunity to experience all of Cooke’s Keen album and single tracks for a comprehensive overview of his time at the label. The 5-CD set includes the content of his five originally released Keen LPs plus multiple bonus tracks, a total of 65 tracks in all. Also included in this box are rare photographs and ephemera from the Keen archives alongside voluminous liner notes by writer Michael Corcoran.
The first volume of the set offers the thirteen tracks that comprise Cooke’s 1958 LP debut for Keen, simply titled Sam Cooke also known as Songs By Sam Cooke, presented in mono, as originally recorded and released. Beyond the glorious “You Send Me,” the album includes “Summertime (Part 2),” “Ain’t Misbehavin’,” “That Lucky Old Sun” and “Danny Boy.”
The second album in the set includes the entirely of the 1958 release Encore that includes such Cooke-interpreted standards as “Ac-Cent-Tchu-Ate the Positive,” “When I Fall In Love,” “I Cover the Waterfront, ”and “The Gypsy.” As with Sam Cooke, orchestral backing is by Bumps Blackwell. The cover depicts the singer swinging with jazz musicians behind him, which is the perfect illustration of the sound of the album.
Sam Cooke’s 1959 salute to Billie Holiday, Tribute to The Lady, is the Complete Keen Years third disc, also offered in mono as originally recorded and released. This session covers a select group of songs from Billie Holiday’s catalog including “God Bless The Child,” “I’ve Gotta Right To Sing The Blues, “Good Morning, Heartache” and “Crazy She Calls Me.” Sam Cooke found his voice not by imitating popular singers but weaving his own interpretation of songs made notable by others. Alongside this collection of songs, is a thoughtful essay by Michael Corcoran written specifically for the Box Set. Corcoran refers to Tribute to The Lady as an essential look at how Sam Cooke found his voice:
“Like Lady Day, Sam had a pretty voice too honest to be cute, sending the words on paper through a spiritual journey before coming out of a mouth fluent in both sorrow and triumph. But he didn’t sing songs her way.”
As with every recording, Sam Cooke put every note in a place all his own.
The aptly named Hit Kit, when originally released by Keen in 1959 was a compilation of the singer’s most popular songs and they comprise the first 12 tracks on the Complete Keen Years fourth disc including the original mono versions of “Only Sixteen,” “Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha,” “Win Your Love For Me” and “You Were Made For Me.” Those are augmented here by 9 bonus tracks including six rare stereo Keen singles.
The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke is the box set’s fifth disc. It was Cooke’s last album release for Keen and takes its title from “(What A) Wonderful World,” written by Cooke with Lou Adler and Herb Alpert; the latter music industry legends were on staff at Keen at that time. Highlights include “That’s Heaven To Me,” “You Were Made For Me” and “Almost In Your Arms (Love Song From “Houseboat”).”The six bonus tracks include both a “gospelized” and the originally released versions of “Steal Away” and “Deep River” plus non-LP tracks “One Hour Ahead of the Posse” and “So Glamorous.”
THE COMPLETE KEEN YEARS: 1957 – 1960
Disc 1 – Sam Cooke - originally released on Keen in 1958
1) You Send Me
2) The Lonesome Road
3) Tammy
4) Ol’ Man River
5) Moonlight In Vermont
6) Canadian Sunset
7) Summertime, Pt. 2
8) Around the World
9) Ain’t Misbehavin’
10) The Bells of St. Mary’s
11) So Long
12) Danny Boy
12) That Lucky Old Sun
Disc 2 – Encore - originally released on Keen in 1958
1) Oh, Look at Me Now
2) Someday
3) Along the Navajo Trail
4) Running Wild
5) Ac-cent-tchu-ate the Positive
6) Mary, Mary Lou
7) When I Fall in Love
8) I Cover the Waterfront
9) My Foolish Heart
10) Today I Sing the Blues
11) The Gypsy
12) It’s the Talk of the Town
Disc 3 – Tribute to The Lady - originally released on Keen in 1959
1) God Bless the Child
2) She’s Funny That Way
3) I’ve Gotta Right to Sing the Blues
4) Good Morning Heartache
5) Tain’t Nobody’s Bizness (If I Do)
6) Comes Love
7) Lover Girl (Man)
8) Let’s Call the Whole Thing Off
9) Lover Come Back to Me
10) Solitude
11) They Can’t Take That Away from Me
12) Crazy She Calls Me
Disc 4 – Hit Kit - originally released on Keen in 1959; 9 bonus tracks
1) Only Sixteen
2) All of My Life
3) Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha
4) Blue Moon
5) Win Your Love For Me
6) Lonely Island
7) You Send Me
8) Love You Most of All
9) (I Love You) For Sentimental Reasons
10) Little Things You Do
11) Let’s Go Steady Again
12) You Were Made For Me
13) Lonely Island (Single Version) [Bonus Track]
14) Win Your Love For Me (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
15) Almost In Your Arms (Theme from Houseboat) (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
16) Everybody Loves to Cha Cha Cha (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
17) Little Things You Do (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
18) Only Sixteen (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
19) Let’s Go Steady Again (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
20) With You (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
21) Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh a/k/a Ee-Yi-Ee-Yi-Oh (Stereo) [Bonus Track]
Disc 5 – The Wonderful World Of Sam Cooke - originally released on Keen in 1960; 6 bonus tracks
1) (What A) Wonderful World
2) Desire Me
3) Summertime, Pt. 1
4) Almost in Your Arms (from “Houseboat”)
5) That’s Heaven to Me
6) No One (Can Ever Take Your Place)
7) With You
8) Blue Moon
9) Stealing Kisses
10) You Were Made for Me
11) There I’ve Said It Again
12) I Thank God
13) Steal Away (Album Version) [Bonus Track]
14) Deep River [Bonus Track]
15) One Hour Ahead of the Posse [Bonus Track]
16) Ee-I-Ee-I-Oh a/k/a Ee-Yi-Ee-Yi-Oh [Bonus Track]
17) So Glamorous [Bonus Track]
18) Steal Away (Single Version) [Bonus Track]
The Rolling Stones’ groundbreaking multi-platinum selling album Let It Bleed was released in late 1969, charting at #1 in the UK and #3 in the US. The Rolling Stones, at this point already a critically and commercially dominant force, composed and recorded their eighth long player (tenth for the U.S.) amidst both geopolitical and personal turmoil. The second of four Rolling Stones albums made with producer Jimmy Miller (Traffic, Blind Faith), Let It Bleed perfectly captures the ominous spirit of the times with “Gimme Shelter,” the opening track. The 2019 remaster has been engineered by eleven-time Grammy®-winning mastering engineer Bob Ludwig.
Let It Bleed (50th Anniversary Limited Deluxe Edition) includes the remastered album in Stereo and Mono on both vinyl and Hybrid SACD, and a reproduction of the 1969 7” mono single of “Honky Tonk Women”/ ”You Can’t Always Get What You Want,” in a picture sleeve. The box set also comes with three 12” x 12” hand-numbered replica-signed lithographs printed on embossed archival paper, a full-color 23” x 23” poster with restored art from the original 1969 Decca Records package, and an 80 page hardcover book with never-before-seen photos by the band’s tour photographer Ethan Russell and an essay by journalist David Fricke.
The soundtrack to season 2 of the award-winning HBO limited series Big Little Lies includes music by Willie Nelson, Charles Bradley and the Spinners and is highlighted by previously unreleased exclusive tracks by Leon Bridges and Jim James.
Big Little Lies (Music From Season 2 of the HBO Limited Series) leans heavily on soul music past and present. Included are the Spinners’ Top 5 hit from 1972 “I’ll Be Around,” “Until You Came Into My Life” by Ann Peebles (1974) and “Great Big Bundle of Love” – a lesser known 1970 single by Los Angeles soul institution Brenton Wood. Recorded in 1979, Donnie and Joe Emerson’s “Baby” from their self-released album Dreamin’ Wild, existed in total obscurity before the reissue label Light In The Attic gave it new life earlier this decade. Similarly, soul crooner Charles Bradley was discovered late in life; the timeless sound of 2013’s “Let Love Stand a Chance” featuring Menahan Street Band would fit well in soul music’s golden era.
Big Little Lies (Music From Season 2 of the HBO Limited Series) Track List:
1. I’ll Be Around – The Spinners
2. Good Thing Gone – Elle King
3. Harvest Moon – Cassandra Wilson
4. Until You Came Into My Life – Ann Peebles
5. The Fade Out Line – Phoebe Killdeer and The Short Straws
6. Great Big Bundle of Love – Brenton Wood
7. Let Love Stand A Chance – Charles Bradley (feat. Menahan Street Band)
8. Baby – Donnie & Joe Emerson
9. Dreams – POP ETC
10. That Was Yesterday – Leon Bridges
11. Why Can’t We Live Together – Jim James
12. Have You Ever Seen The Rain – Willie Nelson feat. Paula Nelson
13. Piece of My Heart – Christina Vierra and The Ryan Rehm Band
14. Shake Sugaree – Elizabeth Cotten and Brenda Evans
The soundtrack to ITV’s British comedy-drama series “The Durrells” features selections of the show’s original music composed by Ruth Barrett and Jon Wygens.
“The Durrells” is created by Simon Nye and stars Keeley Hawes, Josh O’Connor, Callum Woodhouse, Daisy Waterstone and Milo Parker. The drama is based on Gerald Durrell’s memoirs and tells the story of a woman who makes a radical change and uproots her four unruly children from Bournemouth, England to start a new life in Corfu in the 1930s.
The Durrells (Music From The Series) track list:
1. The Durrells (feat. The San Giacomo Corfu Choir) (1:43)
2. How To Be Greek (3:09)
3. Going To Be … Wonderful (2:36)
4. Bad Timing (3:12)
5. Swimming (1:53)
6. Gerry And The Animals (3:25)
7. Jealous Wife (3:17)
8. Fireman (2:22)
9. Margo Swims (1:48)
10. Louisa And Spiro (2:15)
11. Birds & Bees (2:29)
12. Birdwatching (1:32)
13. Beautiful Italians (2:00)
14. Today’s The Day (1:19)
15. Louisa And Sven (2:03)
16. Fire Breathing (2:45)
17. Pera Stous Pera Kampous (feat. The Corfu Children’s Choir) (1:46)
18. Leslie Man Of Action (1:45)
19. Louisa Breaks Down (1:52)
20. Searching For Vangelatos (4:22)
21. Aspro Harti e Zoe (End Titles Theme) (feat. Manos Tavlakis & Nikos Lachos & Antonis Moraitis & The San Giacomo Corfu Choir) (1:54)
22. Thymomenos mou Irthes Apopse (feat. Areti Bartaki & The Corfu Children’s Choir) (1:51)
Recorded before a live audience in London in 1968, The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus was originally conceived as a BBC-TV special. Directed by Michael Lindsay-Hogg, it centers on the original line up of The Rolling Stones — Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Charlie Watts, Bill Wyman (with Nicky Hopkins and Rocky Dijon) — who serve as both the show’s hosts and featured attraction. For the first time in front of an audience, “The World’s Greatest Rock and Roll Band” performs six Stones classics. The program also includes extraordinary performances by The Who, Jethro Tull, Taj Mahal, Marianne Faithfull, Yoko Ono, and The Dirty Mac. A ‘supergroup’ before the term had even been coined, The Dirty Mac was comprised of Eric Clapton (lead guitar), Keith Richards (bass), Mitch Mitchell of The Jimi Hendrix Experience (drums) and John Lennon on guitar and vocals.
The Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus soundtrack has been expanded to 28 tracks, received a new mix and 192k 24 bit HD restoration. Bonus material included by the late concert pianist Julius Katchen, three additional songs by Taj Mahal and never before heard recordings of The Dirty Mac performing The Beatles classic, “Revolution” and the aptly titled track “Warmup Jam.” Released for the first time on vinyl as a 3 LP package, the remixed and remastered soundtrack will also be available on CD and all digital music services.
50th Anniversary Limited Edition of the UK edition of The Rolling Stones’ second hits LP from 1969. Through the Past made a huge splash on both sides of the Atlantic, reaching #2 in both the U.S. and UK. The album includes numerous Stones’ classics including “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” “Let’s Spend The Night Together” and “Honky Tonk Women.” No. 1 singles pressed on heavyweight orange vinyl. The packaging stays true to the original layout, with its trademark octagonal-shaped album cover.
Coinciding almost perfectly with the 20th anniversary of the Roger Kumble film from which it is based, the new Off-Broadway musical Cruel Intentions uses hit songs from the 1990s as its central motif. Cast members pay tribute to the decade with stellar performances of The Verve’s “Bittersweet Symphony,” Christina Aguilera’s “Genie In a Bottle,” the Cardigans’ “Lovefool” and the lead single “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” originally by Deep Blue Something.
Created by Jordan Ross, Lindsey Rosin and Roger Kumble, Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical (and its cinematic predecessor) is an adaption from the classic 1792 French novel Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Pierre Choderlos de Laclos. The musical debuted in Los Angeles in 2015, where it immediately became a sensation with sold out performances mandating a move to a bigger venue. In 2017, the production was recreated off-Broadway at (le) Poisson Rouge in Manhattan were it was met with critical acclaim. Vanity Fair described it as “perfect nostalgia – sweet, silly, sincere . . . and genuinely joyous.” Following a sold-out engagement in the winter of 2017, Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical returned for a six-month, thrice-extended run. In 2019 the production will hit the road for the first time, traveling up and down the East Coast, Midwest and South.
Two time Grammy-winning record producer Stewart Lerman took music director Zach Spound’s orchestrations and arrangements from Cruel Intentions: The 90s Musical into his studio in August of this year. No Doubt’s “Just a Girl,” Counting Crows’ “Colorblind” and a unique version of TLC’s “No Scrubs” were brought to life by cast members Carrie St. Louis, Constantine Rousouli, Alex Boniello and Patricia Richardson, whose performances intertwine plot points with the original lyrics of these recognizable hits. The New York Times review of the musical pointed specifically to the “inspired soundtrack” as a strong suit. “The denouement, set to the Verve’s ‘Bitter Sweet Symphony,’ was worthy of Scorsese.”
Cruel Intentions: The ‘90s Musical producer, Eva Price, commented, “We are honored to celebrate this exciting anniversary and immortalize the New York cast’s voices with this album before seeing the show live at venues across the country.”
Roger Kumble, who wrote the screenplay and directed the 1999 film, commented, “Never in my darkest fantasies would I believe twenty years later, my movie about a pair of hedonistic Manhattan step-siblings would turn into a musical – an amazing musical that even people who hate musicals would love, complete with a soundtrack loaded with the greatest ‘90s guilty pleasure songs.”
The Rolling Stones Beggars Banquet (50th Anniversary Edition) is now available on limited edition hybrid Super Audio CD.
The SACD package itself is designed to look like a miniaturized replica of the 12” gatefold double-vinyl edition, sized to be a convenient 7” gatefold, and contain 2 hybrid SACDs, a flexi disc and expanded packaging elements exclusive to this edition. This bespoke packaging is manufactured in Japan and is of the highest quality to match the SACD audio. Special elements of the package include: replica packshots of two Japanese 7” single picture sleeves (“Jumpin’ Jack Flash” and “Street Fighting Man”) and both versions of the Beggars Banquet sleeve art are included. This SACD set is a Japanese release, which will be imported into North America in a limited quantity.
Recorded between March and July of 1968 at Olympic Sound Studios in London, mixed at Sunset Sound in Los Angeles, Beggars Banquet was the first Stones album produced by Jimmy Miller, and marks the start of what is considered their most prolific album era. Beggars Banquet has a special place in the history of the band, as it is the final album completed with the original lineup of Mick Jagger, Keith Richards, Brian Jones, Billy Wyman and Charlie Watts. During the year of release, Jann Wenner of Rolling Stone declared it “the best record they have yet done” and “an achievement of significance in both lyrics and music.”
Each of these hybrid layered discs includes the entire musical content in both Super Audio CD (SACD) as well as standard CD, providing for complete backward and forward hardware compatibility. The discs will play flawlessly on any SACD compatible or standard CD player. In an SACD player, the laser pick-up automatically reads the SACD layer in Direct Strem Digital (DSD) format, while a standard CD player’s laser pick-up will automatically read through the SACD layer to the CD layer in Pulse Code Modulation (PCM) format. Recently remastered by eleven-time Grammy winner Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering Studios, the SACD audio is the exact product of his work, with no loss of fidelity whatsoever.
The flexi disc captures a telephone interview between Mick Jagger and a representative of King Records in Tokyo, the distributor of London Records in Japan. The rare artifact’s title translated to “Hello, This Is Mick Jagger!” LONDON to TOKYO April 17, 1968” has been resotred and reissued on flexi disc with a picture sleeve lovingly restored to look just like the original. The flexi is included in the 50th Anniversary Limited Edition SACD package (as well as vinyl package) worldwide, making it available for the first time outside Japan. A mirthful moment in the exchange captured over the telephone, halfway around the world, while the band was busy recording the yet-unnamed album Beggars Banquet in Olympic Studios, Jagger was asked “What do you think is the future direction of your music?” And with no hesitation, he responded “Sideways.”
The original intended album cover art for Beggars Banquet was initially rejected both by London Records, the band’s U.S. label as well as Decca, their UK label. The Michael Vosse photograph of a vandalized restroom wall (Jagger and Richards provided the graffiti, the restroom was inside a Porsche dealership) was deemed offensive, possibly because the top of an open toilet is captured in the shot. The replacement cover was simply the band name and album title written in the style of a wedding invitation, and remained that way for several years before the intended bathroom photo art finally gained its rightful place on the cover. Beggars Banquet (50th Anniversary Edition) pays tribute to both, as the package will be housed with the Vosse image, with an overwrap of the “inoffensive” wedding RSVP invitation art.
Beggars Banquet (50th Anniversary Edition) Super Audio CD tracklist
SACD Disc 1 (original album, stereo mix)
1) Sympathy For the Devil
2) No Expectations
3) Dear Doctor
4) Parachute Woman
5) Jigsaw Puzzle
6) Street Fighting Man
7) Prodigal Son
8) Stray Cat Blues
9) Factory Girl
10) Salt of the Earth
SACD Disc 2
1) Sympathy For the Devil (mono mix)
2) Hello, This is Mick Jagger! LONDON to TOKYO April 17, 1968 (interview
Flexi Disc
1) Hello, This is Mick Jagger! LONDON to TOKYO April 17, 1968 (interview)
The official soundtrack album for the HBO original film My Dinner with Hervé, directed by Sacha Gervasi, features original score composed by David Norland (Anvil! The Story of Anvil, November Criminals). Inspired by a real story, the film explores the unlikely friendship between struggling journalist Danny Tate (Jamie Dornan) and French actor Hervé Villechaize (Peter Dinklage), as it unfolds over one wild night in L.A. — an encounter that will have life-changing consequences for both.
My Dinner with Hervé (Music From The HBO Film)
Track Listing: