AUDIO FIDELITY ROCKS THE 50S, 70S AND 80S WITH NEW REISSUES
FROM ELVIS PRESLEY, JEFF BECK AND JANE’S ADDICTION
“Jailhouse Rock” EP and Jeff Beck Group
Get 12-Inch Vinyl Treatment,
Nothing’s Shocking
Goes Gold
Marshall Blonstein, president of Audio Fidelity, has announced May 22 as the release date for the reissue of a trio of legendary rock recordings. Elvis Presley’s 1957 JAILHOUSE ROCK EP and Jeff Beck’s 1972 album THE JEFF BECK GROUP will be issued in 12-inch vinyl editions, and Jane’s Addiction’s 1988 debut, NOTHING’S SHOCKING, will arrive as a numbered, limited edition 24-Karat Gold CD. All will be sold through online and brick-and-mortar retailers alike.
The King of Rock and Roll gets the royal treatment with a dual-speed reissue of his JAILHOUSE ROCK EP, which features performances of five songs from his second feature film of the same name. Side One of the disc offers the tunes at 33 1/3 rpm while Side Two plays them at 45 rpm. The selections include three Leiber-Stoller classics—the title track (Presley’s ninth No. 1 single in just over a year), the ballad “I Want to Be Free” and the full-tilt rocker “(You’re So Square) Baby I Don’t Care”—as well as “Don’t Leave Me Now” and “Young and Beautiful,” both penned by veteran Presley scribe Aaron Schroeder (“Big Hunk O’ Love,” “It’s Now Or Never”). Issued in November of 1957, the 45 rpm EP hit No. 1 on Billboard’s EP chart and ultimately sold more than five million copies; the title-track single held the survey’s top slot for seven weeks and entered the U.K. charts at No. 1.
Among the many artists who’ve covered “Jailhouse Rock” was Jeff Beck (on his second solo set, Beck-Ola). THE JEFF BECK GROUP was the fourth and last album by the band, which then found the super-guitarist supported by vocalist Bobby Tench, drummer Cozy Powell, bassist Clive Chapman and keyboardist Max Middleton. Recorded in Memphis with Booker T. & the MG’s guitarist Steve Cropper producing, THE JEFF BECK GROUP enjoyed extensive FM airplay and a 26-week stay on the Billboard chart. Beck’s considerable talent and imagination are prominently displayed on a wide array of material, from Bob Dylan’s “Tonight I’ll Be Staying Here with You” and Stevie Wonder’s “I Gotta Have a Song” to Carl Perkins’ rockabilly classic “Glad All Over” and a blazing cover of bluesman Freddy King’s “Going Down.” Beck himself penned the opening “Ice Cream Cakes,” “Sugar Cane” (with Steve Cropper), “Highways” and the soulful instrumental “Definitely Maybe.” THE JEFF BECK GROUP will be issued as part of Audio Fidelity’s “nicely priced” vinyl Target Series.
Los Angeles’ Jane’s Addiction made one of the more formidable debuts of the 1980s with NOTHING’S SHOCKING. The group, comprised of vocalist Perry Farrell, guitarist Dave Navarro, bassist Eric Avery and drummer Stephen Perkins, generated combustible—and eventually widely popular—mix of punk-rock energy and arena-rock ambition on this 1988 album, which boasted the alternative-rock hit “Jane Says” (No. 6 on Billboard’s Modern Rock Tracks chart). Produced by Dave Jerden, who had engineered albums by the Rolling Stones, Talking Heads and others, NOTHING’S SHOCKING also features two additional singles, the Zeppelin-esque “Ocean Size” and the more raucous and metallic “Mountain Song.” The latter, like the album’s front cover design, engendered controversy upon release, with MTV refusing to air the song’s video clip as it contained nudity. The expansive, psychedelic “Summertime Rolls” and the swinging jazz interlude “Thank You Boys” revealed additional dimensions to the band, many that would be explored in subsequent albums like NOTHING’S SHOCKING’s successor, RITUAL DE LO HABITUAL, and 2003’s STRAYS.
Founded in 2002 by entertainment industry executive Marshall Blonstein, Audio Fidelity specializes in deluxe reissues of classic popular-music recordings for the audiophile and collector markets. The Camarillo, California-based label is best known for its 24-Karat Gold CDs and its virgin-vinyl album editions, though it also releases DVD titles. In 2011, Audio Fidelity launched the Target Series of CD and LP reissues as a means of broadening its audience beyond its loyal audiophile base.
Audio Fidelity emerged out of the pioneering DCC Compact Classics label that Blonstein started in 1986, following stints as president of Island Records and co-founder of Ode Records (where he helped make Carole King’s Tapestry one of the best-selling albums of all time and built the cult-film franchises The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke).
Marshall Blonstein, president of Audio Fidelity, has announced April 24 as the release date for the reissue of two classic rock albums. Phil Collins’ chart-topping 1989 solo set BUT SERIOUSLY will be released as a 24-Karat Gold CD, and Ten Years After’s 1971 A SPACE IN TIME, released in 24-Karat Gold format last year, will return in a 180-gram vinyl LP edition. Both recordings will be available as numbered, limited editions that will be sold through online and brick-and-mortar retailers alike.
Additionally, on April 21, in support of the fifth annual “Record Store Day,” Audio Fidelity will reissue Genesis’ rare 1977 EP SPOT THE PIGEON. This rare recording will be available only from the some 700 independent music retailers participating in the annual event.
BUT SERIOUSLY was Phil Collins’ fourth album, and one of his most successful, topping Billboard’s chart for three weeks, eventually going four-times-Platinum. It became the best-selling album of 1990 in Britain, where it spent 15 weeks in the No. 1 position. The record was Collins’ second chart-topper, following 1985’s NO JACKET REQUIRED. Produced by Hugh Padgham (Genesis, The Police, Paul McCartney), BUT SERIOUSLY boasted no less than five charting singles, among them the Top 10 titles “Another Day in Paradise,” “Do You Remember,” “Something Happened on the Way to Heaven” and “I Wish It Would Rain Down,” which featured Eric Clapton on guitar. Other supporting artists on the album include Graham Nash, David Crosby, Stephen Bishop (vocals), Steve Winwood (organ) and Leland Sklar (bass).
Ten Year’s After’s A SPACE IN TIME, first released in August of 1971 (and issued by Audio Fidelity as a Gold CD last July), was guitarist Alvin Lee and company’s best-selling album, earning Platinum certification. The band’s seventh long-player, it peaked at No. 17 on Billboard’s chart and yielded the group’s only Top 40 entry, “I’d Love to Change the World,” which also became a staple of classic rock FM radio. A SPACE IN TIME marked the quartet’s maturation from the hard-driving boogie kings of “I’m Going Home” into a subtler, more broadly appealing band with pop strengths. Rockers like “One of These Days” and “Hard Monkeys” dominated, but the album featured Lee on acoustic as well as electric guitar, and “Over the Hill” utilized the talents of string arranger Del Newman (Tea for the Tillerman, Goodbye Yellow Brick Road).
On April 21, in celebration of Record Store Day—the annual national event that salutes more than 700 independent music retailers—Audio Fidelity will issue Genesis’ rare 1977 EP SPOT THE PIGEON, comprised of three tracks recorded for but left off the band’s WIND & WUTHERING album: “Match the Day,” “Pigeons” and “Inside and Out.” The band’s final release before guitarist Steve Hackett departed, SPOT THE PIGEON, which rose to No. 14 on the U.K. charts, has only sporadically been available (on Genesis anthologies) since it was first issued. Audio Fidelity’s reissue is poised to stir interest within both the collector and audiophile communities because it will feature all three songs on both sides, but one side will play at 45 rpm, the other at 33 1/3. It will also be pressed on the same blue vinyl as its original incarnation. The SPOT THE PIGEON EP will only be available from independent record retailers participating in “Record Store Day” nationwide.
Founded in 2002 by entertainment industry executive Marshall Blonstein, Audio Fidelity specializes in deluxe reissues of classic popular-music recordings for the audiophile and collector markets. The Camarillo, California-based label is best known for its 24-Karat Gold CDs and its virgin-vinyl album editions, though it also releases DVD titles. In 2011, Audio Fidelity launched the Target Series of CD and LP reissues as a means of broadening its audience beyond its loyal audiophile base.
Audio Fidelity emerged out of the pioneering DCC Compact Classics label that Blonstein started in 1986, following stints as president of Island Records and co-founder of Ode Records (where he helped make Carole King’s Tapestry one of the best-selling albums of all time and built the cult-film franchises The Rocky Horror Picture Show and Cheech & Chong’s Up in Smoke).
Visit: www.audiofidelity.net
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