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The very latest oldies music CDs, remasters, and reissues, available for purchase at the lowest prices possible from oldies.about.com

May 3, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

The Partridge Family: Come On Get Happy! The Very Best of the Partridge Family

Label: Arista
This is the first single-disc retrospective of these early-Seventies bubblegum mainstays since 1989, which means that it's the first to make use of 21st-century remastering technology and the first to be issued from the other side of that late-Nineties Partridge semi-revival. (2001's "Definitive Collection" gave equal weight to David Cassidy solo tracks.) Okay, so the band's not really a band, but if that bothers you, you weren't looking to buy this anyway; this new greatest hits picks the chart smashes and other highlights of both previous collections and features four previously unreleased Partridge tracks to boot (not to mention a longer version of the theme song). Essential for fans of the show.

New Albums

Solomon Burke: Live at House of Blues
Label: Shout! Factory
Solomon Burke: Soul of the Blues
Label: Shout! Factory
Roger Daltrey: Rocks in the Head
Label: Wounded Bird
Deep Purple: Burn
Label: Rhino
Maria Muldaur: Louisiana Love Call
Label: Shout! Factory
Elvis Presley: Elvis by the Presleys
Label: BMG Heritage
Smokey Robinson: My World: The Definitive Collection
Label: BMG Heritage
Various Artists: Classic Country: Crazy Country Hits
Label: Time Life
Various Artists: Sentimental Journey
Label: Reader's Digest
Lawrence Welk: Champagne Favorites
Label: Reader's Digest

April 26, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

The Supremes: Gold

Label: Motown/Universal
The Supremes' latest compilation, one in a series of comps from the Universal umbrella, may just contain the group's four Sixties and early-Seventies' greatest hits LPs assembled on two CDs, but there's nothing wrong with that -- especially since higher-profile packages like Supremes #1s missed quite a few classic hits by the trio. This then becomes the definitive hits collection for fans of the group, containing as it does all the Supremes' top 40 hits from their various incarnations (as well as several fan favorites). Newly remastered, Gold sets a new standard for Supremes hits collections.

New Albums

April 19, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Herb Alpert and the Tijuana Brass: Whipped Cream and Other Delights

Label: Shout! Factory
This album not only catapulted an "Ameriachi" Latin-jazz pop group into the national spotlight for good, it ensured the fortunes of Alpert's own A&M records, the most successful independent record label of all time. Not bad for an LP that consisted merely of a dozen agreeable little instrumentals, all of which contained some sort of dessert food in the title. But Alpert is a master of melody and marketing (the cover has itself become iconographic), and so it succeeded beyond anyone's wildest expectations. If you're already aware of all this, just know that this 40th anniversary edition (remastered for the first time in fifteen years!) contains two studio bonus tracks, a 20-page CD booklet, and a "collector's poster."

New Albums

April 12, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Linda Jones: Greatest Hits

Label: V.I. Music
Soul and R&B divas, then and now, pride themselves on being able to raise the roof vocally when the song calls for it (and sometimes, unfortunately, when it doesn't). Few divas could match the operatic intensity of Linda Jones, however, a New Jersey native who nonetheless handled Southern soul like a native. Her untimely early death in 1972 -- and the fact that her recordings were released on small labels, mostly -- meant that, aside from a minor hit in "Hypnotized," her star never truly rose as it should have. This new remastering of an essential 1990 compilation, however, rewrites history in the best possible way.

New Albums

April 5, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

The Rolling Stones: Made in the Shade

Label: Virgin
As part of its ongoing association with the Stones' back catalog, Virgin has now begun releasing the group's budget semi-greatest hits collections of the Seventies and Eighties, comps that were generally not well thought of, even in their time. So why is this one different? Because it cherry-picks the best tunes from the Stones' more problematic Watergate years, mixes them with classics lifted from the glorious but daunting Exile On Main Street and Sticky Fingers murk, and sequences them perfectly, leaving a short breather in the middle for two of the band's most affecting ballads. The result? One of the straightest, hardest-rocking Stones albums of all time. And now it sounds better than ever.

New Albums

Ray Charles: I Chose to Sing the Blues
Label: Brentwood
Cheap Trick: Collection: Cheap Trick/In Color/Heaven Tonight
Label: Legacy
Bob Dylan: Collection, Vol. 2: Freewheelin' Bob Dylan/The Times They Are A Changin'/Another Side of Bob Dylan
Label: Legacy
Bob Dylan: Collection, Vol. 3: Blonde on Blonde/Blood on the Tracks/Infidels
Label: Legacy
Bob Dylan: Collection, Vol. 4: Nashville Skyline/New Morning/John Wesley Harding
Label: Legacy
Electric Light Orchestra: Collection: Face the Music/A New World Record/Discovery
Label: Legacy
José Feliciano: Nina
Label: EMI Latin
Wynonie Harris: Best of Wynonie Harris
Label: Brentwood
Billie Holiday: Ultimate Collection
Label: Hip-O
John Kay & Company: Lost Heritage Tapes
Label: Rainman
Various Artists: Hard to Find Soul
Label: Time Life

March 29, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Mel Tormé: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection

Label: Hip-O
Like many jazz-pop vocal icons, the catalog of the Velvet Fog has been endlessly reshuffled lo these many years. There may, however, be no better single-disc budget comp of Mel Torme than this one, the latest in a series of "Masters" discs under the umbrella of Universal's many labels. The hits, such as they are, are here, including "The Christmas Song," but the other eleven tracks do an excellent job of summing up Mel's importance to music, not just as a scat vocalist but as a balladeer, interpreter, and songwriter.

New Albums

March 22, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Various Artists: '60s Rock Experience

Label: Shout! Factory
Although the title and the packaging might lead you to believe this three-CD box set is a tribute to the early days of classic rock, it's not: despite titling the individual discs with references to love-ins and Vietnam, this is really a tribute to the paisley pop of the AM band. For every Woodstock homage (Country Joe and The Fish, Canned Heat, Grateful Dead) there are ten songs like "Incense And Peppermints," "Are You Ready?" and "Do You Believe In Magic?" Disc 2, in particular, is a near-perfect soundtrack to any stoned soul picnic you may have in mind.

New Albums

Steve Allen: All Star Jazz Concert
Label: Jasmine
Asleep at the Wheel: Very Best of Asleep at the Wheel
Label: Big A Entertainment
Harry Belafonte: 28 Original Recordings
Label: Prism
Bill Boyd's Cowboy Ramblers: Lone Star Rag: 1937-1949, Vol. 2
Label: Acrobat
Jimmy Buffett: Live in Hawaii
Label: Mailboat
James Burton: Corn Pickin' & Slick Slidin'
Label: Sundazed
The Carter Family: Will You Remember Me
Label: Fruit Tree
Charlie Daniels: Songs from the Longleaf Pines
Label: Fruit Tree
Bobby Darin: Live! At the Desert Inn
Label: Neon Tonic
Bo Diddley: Vamp
Label: Universe
John Entwistle: So Who's the Bass Player: The Ox Anthology
Label: Sanctuary
Eddie Floyd: Knock on Wood Session
Label: Universe
The Four Tops: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection
Label: Universe
Waylon Jennings: 16 Biggest Hits
Label: BMG Heritage
Frankie Laine: Frankie Laine
Label: Prism
Loretta Lynn: Coal Miner's Daughter
Label: Dynamic
Mantovani & His Orchestra: Cascading Strings
Label: Jasmine
Curtis Mayfield: Move on Up
Label: Prism
Charley Pride: 16 Biggest Hits
Label: BMG Heritage
Santana: Guitar Legend
Label: United Multi Consign
Billie Jo Spears: I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry
Label: Dynamic
Edwin Starr: Best of Great Soul Classics
Label: Prism
Merle Travis & Joe Maphis: Country Music's Two Guitar Greats
Label: Sundazed
Various Artists: Cold Heat: Heavy Funk Rarities, Vol. 1: 1968-1974
Label: Now Again
Various Artists: East Village Other: Electric Newspaper
Label: Esp-Disk / Caliber
Various Artists: Greatest Hits of the Beatles: Classical Style
Label: Compendia
The Ventures: Ventures
Label: Simply the Best
Dinah Washington: Jazz Biography
Label: United Multi Consign
Stevie Wonder: 20th Century Masters - The Millennium Collection
Label: Motown

March 15, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Reverend Al Green: Everything's OK

Label: Blue Note
Rev. Green's return to secular soul has been one of the happiest trends in the last few years, and after scoring big with 2003's I Can't Stop, the Rev returns with another all-new set of mostly orginal material (Joe Cocker's "You Are So Beautiful" being the only real cover). Willie Mitchell and the rest of the Hi Records regulars return, along with guest star Bobby Rush, but unlike last time, there's no attempt to recreate the classic Hi sound: this is simply a testament to Green, not the label. And as we all know, Al Green is love.

New Albums

March 8, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Ike Turner: The Bad Man

Label: Night Train
For the most dedicated and devoted of you classic R&B heads out there, this compilation will mean a chance to get those ultra-rare Vernon Guy, Jimmy Thomas, and Bobby Johns sides you've heard about. But for most of us, it means a chance to score heretofore unreissued cuts by Ike and Tina Turner, The Ikettes, and Fontella Bass. The sound quality is all over the place, but that's the fault of the original masters; this collection of early-Sixties Ike productions will easily satisfy fans of rare and raw rhythm and blues.

New Albums

Harold Arlen: Harold Arlen Sings Sweet and Hot
Label: ASV/Living Era
Frank Chacksfield: Million Sellers/Hits of 1965
Label: Dutton Vocalion
Maurice Chevalier: Mr. Paree, Himself
Label: Collectors' Choice
Buddy Clark: Here's to Romance
Label: ASV/Living Era
Bing Crosby: Original Crooner
Label: American Legends
Sammy Davis, Jr.: Sounds of '66
Label: Collectors' Choice
Desmond Dekker: Gimme Gimme
Label: Brook
Ella Fitzgerald: Lady Be Good: Live
Label: Just Jazz
Billie Holiday: The Billie Holiday Story
Label: United States Of Distribution LTD
Chuck Jackson & Maxine Brown: Saying Something/Hold on We're Coming
Label: Kent
George Jones: King of the Broken Hearts
Label: American Legends
Jay Geils: Jay Geils Plays Jazz!
Label: Stony Plain
Mantovani: Music from the Films/Film Encores
Label: Dutton Vocalion
The Mills Brothers: Goodbye, Blues
Label: ASV/Living Era
Patsy Montana: Original Cowboy Sweetheart
Label: ASV/Living Era
Frank Sinatra: The Frank Sinatra Story
Label: United States Of Distribution LTD
Various Artists: Funky Funky New Orleans, Vol. 2
Label: Funky Delicacies
Various Artists: Funky Funky New Orleans, Vol. 4
Label: Funky Delicacies
Various Artists: Hits of '54: Little Things Mean a Lot
Label: ASV/Living Era
Gene Vincent: Road Is Rocky: Complete Studio Masters 1956-1971
Label: Bear Family
Hank Williams: Hillbilly Shakespeare
Label: American Legends
Hank Williams: The Hank Williams Story
Label: United States Of Distribution LTD

March 1, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

Solomon Burke: Make Do With What You Got

Label: Shout! Factory
Although he never received his props from the general buying public, Solomon Burke was as important a figure on the Sixties soul scene as anyone -- even if most folks are familiar with his best songs ("Cry to Me," "Just Out of Reach (Of My Two Open Arms)," "Everybody Needs Somebody to Love") through other artists' versions. Moreover, Burke has kept his classic country-soul/deep-soul sound alive into the next millennium, unlike many of his contemporaries, and Make Do is another excellent new addition to the genre.

New Albums

Charles Aznavour: Au Carnegie Hall
Label: EMI Latin
Patsy Cline: Gold
Label: MCA Nashville
Richie Furay: I Am Sure
Label: Friday Music
The Jackson 5: Gold
Label: Motown Records
Kool and the Gang: Gold
Label: MCA Nashville
The Moody Blues: Gold
Label: MCA Nashville
Motown Classics: Gold
Label: MCA Nashville
Old School Soul Party [Box]
Label: MCA Nashville
Parliament: Gold
Label: MCA Nashville
Procol Harum: One More Time: Live in Utrecht, Netherlands
Label: Friday Music Rock
The Rolling Stones: Singles 1968-1971 [CD & DVD]
Label: Friday Music Rock
Various Artists: Rock & Roll: The First 50 Years/The Late '60s
Label: Varese
Bill Wyman: Just for a Thrill
Label: Fuel 2000

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Guide since 2002

Robert Fontenot
Oldies Music Guide

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Filed In:

May 3, 2005

Pick Hit Of The Week

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April 26, 2005

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April 19, 2005

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April 12, 2005

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April 5, 2005

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March 29, 2005

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March 22, 2005

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March 15, 2005

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March 8, 2005

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March 1, 2005

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