Elvis Presley - Elvis On Tour (6 CD, 2023) [24/96]

 

Sony are to release a new Elvis Presley box set called Elvis On Tour. This 6CD+blu-ray package follows The King on his 1972 North American tour and includes audio from four of the shows, two rehearsals and the concert film on blu-ray.

The first three CDs in this set feature performances from 9th, 10th and 14th April 1972 respectively; that’s Hampton Roads Coliseum, Virginia; Richmond Coliseum, Virginia; and Greensboro Coliseum, North Carolina. All three are previously unreleased. The fourth CD features the 18th April gig at the Convention Center Arena, San Antonio, Texas, and includes material that was part of 2003’s Elvis: Close-Up box set, however it has been newly remixed for this release.

Tour rehearsals constitute CDs five and six. CD 5 has audio recorded live at RCA Recording Studios in Hollywood, California, on 30th and 31st March 1972. This is mostly unreleased, although some were issued on a couple of the specialist ‘Follow That Dream’ releases in 2001 and 2004 (Elvis On Tour – The Rehearsals and Sunset Boulevard, respectively).

CD 6 is all completely unreleased and offers more of the 31 March rehearsals at RCA and includes unreleased takes on Kris Kristofferson’s ‘For The Good Times’. In total, this Elvis On Tour box set features a total of 145 audio tracks, 91 of which are previously unreleased. 

 

Steppenwolf – ‘Magic Carpet Ride-The Dunhill/ABC Years 1967-1971’ (8 CD, 2021/FLAC)

In the four year period between 1967 and 1971 California based hard rock band Steppenwolf released a series of best selling albums and singles, unique for their social and political commentary, garnering nine gold records and gathering an extremely loyal fan base that remains to this day.

Cherry Red Records has gathered the six studio and two live LP’s, supplemented by twenty six single sides, in a new eight disc box set on the label’s Esoteric Recordings imprint.

CD One: 1968 - Steppenwolf (01:14:29)

CD Two: 1968 - The Second (00:46:33)

CD Three: 1969 - At Your Birthday Party (00:53:30)

CD Four: 1969 - Early Steppenwolf (Live At The Matrix, San Francisco 14th May 1967) (00:43:44)

CD Five: 1969 - Monster (00:44:53)

CD Six: 1970 - Steppenwolf Live (01:18:25)

CD Seven: 1970 - Steppenwolf 7 (00:50:28)

CD Eight: 1971 - For Ladies Only (01:01:13)

 

 

Black Sabbath - Mob Rules (1981/2014) [24-192]

 

After a steady decline in both inspiration, mental stability, and commercial appeal throughout the second half of the '70s, metal icons Black Sabbath were reborn with 1980's Heaven and Hell. The album would be their first with new vocalist Ronnie James Dio, whose passionate, controlled wail broke new ground for the band and helped drive a comeback. 

1981's Mob Rules was a quick follow-up to Heaven and Hell, continuing the momentum of that record's energy as well as its shift away from dark metal to more commercial hard rock.

 

Prince - Transmission Impossible (3 CD, 2017/FLAC)

Despite the tragic passing of Prince, the music world remains as eager as ever to hear previously unreleased material by this genius of composition and performance. 

This triple CD set includes just such material, featuring on Disc One in the set the entire album Purple Rain recorded live at various venues in the years since the original record release in 1984. Including too, as bonus cuts, some of the non-album b-sides of singles taken from PR, this disc gets the set off to a flying start.

 Disc Two includes television appearances made by Prince across the decades, during which he performs numbers relevant to the time or the subject of the appearance. Featuring the great man's musical spots on Saturday Night Live, The Late Show, The VH1 Fashion Awards, Solid Gold, and even a rare 1979 appearance on Soul Train, among numerous others, this collection features the finest and least heard appearances he made throughout his career.

Disc Three concludes the set in style, with a rare small club/aftershow party from 1988, when Prince performed in front of a 'by invitation only' intimate crowd, playing the kind of funk-driven set he would never perform in front of a regular audience. With all tracks and sets throughout featured in fine audio quality, all taken from broadcast recordings, this collection will surely end up among the standard Prince live collections out there.

 

Paul Simon discography 1965-2011 [FLAC]

Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American musician, singer-songwriter and actor. Simon's fame, influence, and commercial success began as part of the duo Simon & Garfunkel, formed in 1964 with musical partner Art Garfunkel. Simon wrote nearly all of the pair's songs, including three that reached No. 1 on the U.S. singles charts: "The Sound of Silence", "Mrs. Robinson", and "Bridge over Troubled Water".