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News: NOW Yearbook Extra 1979

16 09 2022

NOW Yearbook Extra 1979 is a 3 CD (sadly no vinyl for these “extra” releases”) compilation, highlighting an additional 67 tracks from the charts of 1979, and acting as a companion piece to the recently released NOW Yearbook 1979 (orange vinyl / CD).

As I constantly mention (on this blog, to my cats and to anyone who will listen), 1979 is my favourite year for music, so if I was in charge of compiling these collections they would be 10 CD sets at least. The main collection and now this “extra” companion compilation, collect some of the essential singles from the year, along with some less obvious (and sometimes skippable) tracks to highlight the diversity of the charts in 1979.

The three CDs contain some absolute classics – Kid by The Pretenders, Roxy Music’s Angel Eyes, Reasons to Be Cheerful (Pt. 3) by Ian Dury and The Blockheads, Sparks The Number One Song in Heaven, Lost in Music from Sister Sledge and that’s just disc one.

The first 12 songs on disc two would make a great new wave compilation in their own right. Featuring a run of amazing singles from The Jam, The Stranglers, Siouxsie and the Banshees, The Clash and the Skids finest single in my eyes, Working for the Yankee Dollar, plus one of my favourite singles from 1979, Milk and Alcohol by Dr. Feelgood.

Life in Tokyo by Japan and Electricity from Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark hint at the electronic wave that was starting to crash into the charts, heralding the eventual new romantic movement that followed over the next few years.

Disc 3 has a few easy listening and novelty hits, but is otherwise filled to the brim with wonderful tracks such as Blondie’s Sunday Girl, Billy Joel’s Honesty (meaning The Boys Hughie Campbell will buy this compilation), plus Get It Right Next Time from Gerry Rafferty, The Ballad of Lucy Jordan by Marianne Faithfull, Toto’s Hold the Line, BA Robertson’s Knocked It Off and one of the last great Thin Lizzy singles Waiting for an Alibi.

So if you can’t afford (or invent) a time-machine, this wonderful compilation is the next best thing and it will transport you back to one of the great years for pop singles. Strap yourself in.

Buy NOW Yearbook Extra 1979 3 CD set from Amazon

Disc: 1

Crazy Little Thing Called Love – Queen
Message in a Bottle – The Police
Union City Blue – Blondie
Kid – The Pretenders
Last Train to London – Electric Light Orchestra
Angel Eyes – Roxy Music
Them Heavy People – Kate Bush
Up the Junction – Squeeze
Diamond Smiles – The Boomtown Rats
Reasons to Be Cheerful (Pt. 3) – Ian Dury and The Blockheads
The Number One Song in Heaven – Sparks
The Runner – The Three Degrees
Dim All the Lights – Donna Summer
Lost in Music – Sister Sledge
My Feet Keep Dancing – Chic
Is It Love You’re After – Rose Royce
Gotta Go Home – Boney M.
Let’s Fly Away – Voyage
The Prince – Madness
Duke of Earl – Darts
Blue Peter – Mike Oldfield
Daytrip to Bangor (Didn’t We Have a Lovely Time) – Fiddler’s Dram

Disc: 2

The Sound of the Suburbs – The Members
Babylon’s Burning – The Ruts
Strange Town – The Jam
English Civil War – The Clash
Duchess – The Stranglers
Playground Twist – Siouxsie and the Banshees
Death Disco – Public Image Ltd
Working for the Yankee Dollar – Skids
Jimmy Jimmy – The Undertones
C’mon Everybody – Sex Pistols
Milk and Alcohol – Dr. Feelgood
Banana Splits – The Dickies
Time for Action – Secret Affair
Back of My Hand – Jags
The Loneliest Man in the World – The Tourists
Life in Tokyo – Japan
Electricity – Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark
Take That to the Bank – Shalamar
This Is It – Dan Hartman
H.A.P.P.Y. Radio – Edwin Starr
It’s a Disco Night (Rock Don’t Stop) – The Isley Brothers
My Forbidden Lover – Chic
The Boss – Diana Ross
Take Me Home – Cher

Disc: 3

Sunday Girl – Blondie
Painter Man – Boney M.
My Simple Heart – The Three Degrees
Sail On – The Commodores
After the Love Has Gone – Earth, Wind & Fire
Just the Way You Are – Barry White
Honesty – Billy Joel
The Ballad of Lucy Jordan – Marianne Faithfull
Get It Right Next Time – Gerry Rafferty
Hold the Line – Toto
Whatever You Want – Status Quo
Waiting for an Alibi – Thin Lizzy
Car 67 – Driver 67
Knocked It Off – BA Robertson
Luton Airport – Cats U.K.
Some Girls – Racey
Get It – Darts
Who Were You With in the Moonlight – Dollar
Mirrors – Sally Oldfield
One Day at a Time – Lena Martell
Wonderful Christmastime – Paul McCartney

Buy NOW Yearbook Extra 1979 3 CD set from Amazon

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Tags: 1979, 70s music, Hughie Campbell, Now 79, seventies, The Boys
Categories : News

Al Stewart: Year Of The Cat 45th Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set / 2 CD Remastered & Expanded Edition

24 01 2021

Al Stewart is releasing a 45th Anniversary limited edition box-set of his 1976 Year Of The Cat album, on 26 February 2021 as a 3CD/1DVD edition and a 2CD expanded version.

Year Of The Cat is newly re-mastered for the very first time from the original first generation master tapes by original producer Alan Parsons.

As well as the remastered album, the set includes a new 5.1 Surround sound mix from the original multitrack tapes and a previously unreleased concert recorded at the Paramount Theater, Seattle in October 1976, which is spread over 2 CD’s.

This is the definitive version of the album. Year Of The Cat has always sounded majestic, and was often the album used for hi-fi demonstrations, it sounded that good. Alan Parson’s remaster sounds so much more sympathetic than the previous 2001 remaster, which was a little too loud and forced. This is a lovely warm and colourful mix. Strings sound fresh and luscious, with amazing clarity.

One of the highlights of the album is the guitar work from longtime Al Stewart sidekick Tim Renwick, who also contributed stellar performances on the recent Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set.

On The Border is as good as the more well-known title track, and shines even brighter with this remaster. The Rhodes throughout Midas Shadow and the drums and percussion from Stuart Elliott (who also worked with Kate Bush on five of her early albums) sound wonderful.

In hindsight, If it Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It has a hint of the E-Street Band in it’s arrangement, especially the piano, but obviously not the vocals! I could go on and on about this album, but if you are reading this you probably know and love Year Of The Cat, so rest assured this is a must have version. Perfectly capturing a gently progressive meets pop sound, that sum up this aspect of the mid 70s airwaves, this is an album that fans of seventies music will have to add to their collection.

The other two CD’s in this deluxe reissue feature live recordings, which considering they are from 1976, are of very high audio quality, and offer lots of song explanations between tracks from Stewart.

The final disc (not supplied for review) contains the new 5.1 Surround Sound Mix & Original 96 Khz / 24-Bit Re-Mastered Stereo Mix By Alan Parsons. The set also comes with a 68-page book with a new essay featuring an interview with Al Stewart and a facsimile promotional poster plus a set of four postcards.

A cut-down version is also available – consisting of the remastered album plus a second disc with nine live tracks and without the 5.1 version.

Buy Year Of The Cat: 3CD/1DVD 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition Boxset on Amazon

Buy Year Of The Cat: 2CD Remastered & Expanded Edition (the remastered album plus nine live tracks recorded at the Paramount Theater, Seattle in October 1976) on Amazon

Al Stewart: Year Of The Cat 45th Anniversary Limited Edition Box Set

Disc One:

Lord Grenville
On The Border
Midas Shadow
Sand In Your Shoes
If It Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It
Flying Sorcery
Broadway Hotel
One Stage Before
Year Of The Cat
Bonus Track
Belsize Blues (Recorded At Abbey Road Studios September 1975)

Disc Two:
Live At The Paramount Theater, Seattle – October 1976
Previously Unreleased

Apple Cider Re-Constitution (Live 1976)
The Dark And The Rolling Sea (Live 1976)
One Stage Before (Live 1976)
Soho (Needless To Say) (Live 1976)
Not The One (Live 1976)
On The Border (Live 1976)
Broadway Hotel (Live 1976)
Roads To Moscow (Live 1976)

Disc Three:

Live At The Paramount Theater, Seattle – October 1976
Previously Unreleased

Nostradamus (Live 1976)
Sirens Of Titan (Live 1976)
The Post World War Two Blues (Live 1976)
Year Of The Cat (Live 1976)
Sand In Your Shoes (Live 1976)
Carol (Live 1976)
If It Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It (Live 1976)

Disc Four:

Year Of The Cat: New 5.1 Surround Sound Mix & Original 96 Khz / 24-Bit Re-Mastered Stereo Mix By Alan Parsons

Lord Grenville (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
On The Border (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
Midas Shadow (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
Sand In Your Shoes (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
If It Doesn’t Come Naturally, Leave It (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
Flying Sorcery (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
Broadway Hotel (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
One Stage Before (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)
Year Of The Cat (5.1 Surround Sound Mix)

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Tags: 70s, Al Stewart, Alan Parsons, seventies, Year Of The Cat
Categories : Music Review

News: Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set

5 09 2019

Cherry red are releasing an 8 CD Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set on September 27 2019. The 103 track box set covers all of the releases by Sutherland Brothers & Quiver during the period 1971-79, for both Island and CBS Records.

The box-set includes their most well-known song Arms Of Mary, as well as Sailing (which became a huge hit for Rod Stewart in 1975) and 1975’s Reach For The Sky album, which featured Pink Floyd’s David Gilmour on one track.

The box-set consists of:

Sutherland Brothers – produced by Muff Winwood
Lifeboat – which includes seven bonus tracks, four taken from the USA version of the album. Also included is the track Sailing which though not a hit for the band, gave Rod Stewart an international chart topper
Dream Kid which includes a non-album cut as a bonus
Beat Of The Street includes two non-album cuts
Reach For The Sky – featuring the hit single Arms Of Mary which reached No. 5 in the UK, No. 17 in Germany and the top spot in both Holland and Ireland. Two non-LP tracks have been added as a bonus, and Dave Gilmour guests on the track Ain’t Too Proud
Slipstream – from 1976 which includes the UK hit single Secrets
Down To Earth – featuring six non-LP bonus tracks including rare tracks from the USA version of the album
When The Night Comes Down – which features the No.50 UK hit single Easy Come Easy Go.

Buy The Sutherland Brothers & Quiver box-set from Amazon.

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Tags: 70s, box-set, David Gilmour, Pink Floyd, Rod Stewart, seventies, Sutherland Brothers & Quiver
Categories : News

Climax Blues Band – The Albums 1973 – 1976 boxset review

3 07 2019

Esoteric Recordings are releasing a 4CD clamshell boxed set by the Climax Blues Band, titled The Albums 1973 – 1976. This release is the second collection of Climax Blues Band albums and features their work issued between 1973 and 1976, consisting of the albums FM Live, Sense of Direction, Stamp Album and Gold Plated.

The first disc contains FM Live, a recording of a concert that was broadcast on WNEW-FM in New York in 1973. FM Live gave the band their first major US success. The album highlights the more blues orientated sound of their late 60s / early 70s output.

The original UK release was a single album – this version is the USA double vinyl running order. Highlights on this live album include the wonderful harmonies on I Am Constant and the high-octane, Bo Diddley influenced Shake Your Love.

Disc two in the set is where it gets more interesting for me, with the 1974 studio album Sense of Direction. At this point the band are heading off in a more rock and jazz fusion direction and providing the sounds that would blast out of classic rock / FM radio stations for the next few years.

Amerita / Sense Of Direction opens the album, with a 6 minute track that owes more to the sound of artists such as America or Chicago than to the Climax Blues Band’s Chicago blues origins.

Reaching Out is one of my favourite tracks on this collection, with the song served up on a lovely early 70s groove, with some great guitar lines from Peter Haycock. At this point in their career, the band were really stretching out and hearing this music now instantly transports you back in time to those heady seventies times.

Bonus tracks on this disc consist of the single version of Sense of Direction and a rawer, less polished version of Shopping Bag People.

The third disc is the Stamp Album from 1975, where the band headed further towards a more mainstream sound. From the Rhodes piano and sax driven Using The Power, to the pop-reggae of Mr. Goodtime, the band were now inhabiting the same musical universe as contemporaries such as the Average White Band and the mid-70s work of Robert Palmer.

The smooth harmonies of I Am Constant and the Doobie Brothers style funk of Running Out Of Time are another two early album highlights. The addition of new member Richard Jones opened up the bands pallet at this point, with an added emphasis on keyboards that is really noticeable on the fusion of Rusty Nail / The Devil Knows. The album closes with the expansive arrangement of Cobra, a short instrumental.

The final disc is the bands most successful album, Gold Plated from 1976. Notable for giving the Climax Blues Band their biggest hit, Couldn’t Get It Right, which peaked at No10 in the UK and No3 in the US, the shift to a more pop-friendly sound continued.

The dual guitar and clavinet of Together and Free finds the band setting out their stall early on. Couldn’t Get It Right remains the bands signature tune to this day, and has appeared in film (and game) soundtracks.

Bonus tracks for this album include an extended version of Chasing Change and a rare (and very short) Climax Blues Band ballad, Shadow Man, which reminds me a little of mid-period 10cc.

The Albums 1973 – 1976 is a good introduction to the music of the Climax Blues Band, which will be of interest to lovers of early to mid-70s rock music. This collection houses each disc in replica album sleeve wallets and also includes a new poster.