Capitol reissues four key albums on vinyl: Hag, Jackson, Rogers, Campbell
Tuesday, February 12, 2013 – Four key albums from Capitol Records Nashville's catalog will be reissued on 180-gram vinyl on March 12. Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler," Glen Campbell's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix," Merle Haggard's "Swinging Doors" and Wanda Jackson's "Rockin' With Wanda!" were mastered for vinyl and will be packaged in true-to-original LP sleeves with restored artwork.
Released in 1979, "The Gambler" was a pop crossover success, topping Billboard's Country Albums chart at number 1 and reaching number 12 on the Billboard 200. The album's smash hit ballad, She Believes In Me, topped Billboard's Country and Adult Contemporary Singles charts and peaked at number 5 on the Hot 100. The album's title track won two Grammy Awards: Best Country Vocal Performance, Male and Best Country Song. The album is five-times Platinum-certified by the RIAA with U.S. sales totaling more than 5 million copies.
Released in 1968, "By the Time I Get to Phoenix" was also a major genre-crossing success, winning the year's coveted Album of the Year Grammy Award and topping Billboard's Country Albums chart at number 1 and reaching number 15 on the Billboard 200. The Platinum-certified album's title track hit number 1 on the Country Singles chart and peaked at number 26 on the Hot 100, and the song earned two Grammy Awards for Campbell: Best Vocal Performance, Male and Best Contemporary Solo Vocal Performance, Male.
Oklahoma native Haggard's third studio album, "Swinging Doors," was released in 1966. It hit number 1 on Billboard's Country Albums chart, and Haggard earned the year's Top Male Vocalist award from the Academy of Country Music.
Released in 1960, fellow Oklahoman Wanda Jackson's "Rockin' With Wanda!" is still considered to be the finest collection of the Queen of Rockabilly's signature singles from the mid to late 1950s, including Jackson's Let's Have a Party, which peaked at number 37 on the Billboard Hot 100, and I Gotta Know, which hit number 15 on Billboard's Country Singles chart. Jackson has enjoyed a resurgence thanks, in part, to Jack White, who produced her.
Already announced, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band's "Will the Circle be Unbroken" will also be reissued on 180-gram triple vinyl on March 12. Remastered by Chris Bellman at Bernie Grundman Mastering, the new release is the first vinyl reissue of the recording.
More news for Merle Haggard
CD reviews for Merle Haggard
Working in Tennessee
Read Merle Haggard's Wikipedia entry. It talks, in the second sentence, of his having helped create the Bakersfield sound, with its "rough edge." Later, it discusses, at some length, his conservative touchstones, in particular Okie From Muskogee. While, in Wikipedia fashion, that may capture the popular perception of the recent Kennedy Center honoree, it doesn't hit at the core of what made him, along with Willie Nelson and George Jones, one of country music's three most »»» |
I Am What I Am
It seems that the legendary country artists who survive to their later years, often make some of their best music during that time. It certainly was true with Johnny Cash and apparently Merle Haggard is primed to follow suit. The evidence of that is spread all over his new 12-song outing.
Haggard has gone introspective, but he has done it in such a way that most of the songs are easy for the listeners to apply to their own experiences. The opener, I've Seen It Go Away, is about losing the »»» |
Legendary Performances DVD
The Strangers are a talented and extremely flexible band, as Haggard's mood can vary from showing off his rich singing voice on ballads to playing the jazzy guitar hero via Western swing material. Thus, it takes a multi-faceted combo, like The Strangers, to keep up with Haggard's many moods.
This disc collects 15 Haggard TV clips, and the man is definitely not lip synching his way through these performances. For instance, viewers can clearly hear The Hag clear his throat right before »»» |
Editorial: Walking the talk –
When names like Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Waylon and the Hag are invoked, you're talking hard core country. These are the touchstones of country , the guys who made country music what it was and still is (or maybe can be). When these folks would sing about being down-and-out and the rough-and-tumble, they knew of what they were singing about. Fast forward a few years to the country singers of today. »»»
Concert Review: Steve Earle doesn't rest (on laurels) –
If you didn't realize Steve Earle had a new disc out, "The Low Highway," it would have been no problem realizing that quite and quickly.
That was because Earle started the two-hour show with three straight tracks from "The Low Highway," and he would not be done for the night. The title track of was a midtempo effort... »»»
Concert Review: The Howlin' Brothers leave the radar behind –
The Howlin' Brothers - this trio, in reality, contains no brothers - are about eight years into their career and on their fifth album. To say they've been under the radar screen may be an understatement. You couldn't even say they've been flying under that screen because they have stuck very close to their Nashville environs.... »»»
|
|
Country News Digest
 CST
 CST
Elsewhere in the news
Currently at the CST blogs
Some folks listening to Kelly Willis and Bruce Robison's new duet album, "Cheaters Game," may well exclaim, 'Well, it's about time!' after finally hearing these two talented country singer/songwriters recording music as a pair for the first time. Willis has built quite a following for her independently-minded feminine perspective, while Robison has written hits for the Dixie Chicks ( Travelin' Soldier) and Tim McGraw and Faith Hill ( Angry All the Time), as well as penning the ultimate Willie Nelson tribute, What Would Willie Do? and recording it as a solo act.
... »»»
Last fall, singer/songwriter Steve Forbert dropped the 14th studio album of his 35-year career, the impeccable "Over With You." Critics recognized the album as a return to the form Forbert displayed on his earliest works - 1978's stripped back and personal "Alive on Arrival" and 1979's more lushly produced and commercially accessible "Jackrabbit Slim" - but the fact is that Forbert has never strayed far from their basic folk/rock tenets.... »»»
Over the course of the past 20 years or so, Jim Lauderdale and Buddy Miller have both experienced a certain rise in their respective rootsy country profiles. Miller has become one of Nashville's hottest speed dial numbers, as an artist, a guitarist-for-hire (a role he has performed for Lucinda Williams, Emmylou Harris and Robert Plant, among others) and an intuitive producer (he's currently working with Executive Music Producer T Bone Burnett to provide the soundtrack for ABC's "Nashville" television series).... »»»
Wilderness
"Wilderness" is another twisted menagerie of The Handsome Family songs. Once again, husband Brett Sparks sings their songs, sometimes in a bellowing gravedigger voice, after adding music to wife Rennie's lyrics. This time out, each and every tune is named after an animal, insect or other such nature creature. However, Rennie studies animals the way Flannery O'Connor wrote about humans, which is with the weirdness and character flaws in primary focus. »»» |
Love Is Everything
George Strait may have reached his seventh decade, but he shows zero signs of slowing down. In fact, Strait seems to be getting even more consistent as he gets older. Strait doesn't stray all that far from the formula that has resulted in superstar status. First and foremost, that means his sonorous voice is mixed far above the music, a very good thing. »»» |
Dark Dirty Mile
Jason Boland and the Stragglers have released a new country album that sounds old. This isn't to imply that the sound is aged in a negative way; they have a classic country maturity that isn't heard too much these days with the exception of Jamey Johnson. For those not familiar with the music of Boland, the first track is a great way to decide whether this is your kind of country music. The title track is a mid tempo country song reminiscent of the late Waylon Jennings. »»» |
Golden
Lady Antebellum probably needed a change in direction after "Own the Night" dropped in 2011. The material was overly geared towards taking dead aim at the radio jugular. That isn't the case this time out on the trio's fifth release because most of the songs veer away from being obviously radio fodder (except for the current single Downtown with its soulful beginning and strong vocals from Hillary Scott), but that also doesn't man that this was the right change. »»» |
Annie Up
For those who thought "Hell on Heels" was a one-off side project for Miranda Lambert (along with sidekicks Angaleena Presley and Ashley Monroe), think again. The Annies, aka "Lonestar Annie" (Lambert), "Hippie Annie" (Monroe), and "Holler Annie" (Presley), are no novelty act. Instead, they tackle material that you just are unlikely to hear on mainstream country radio both in subject matter and sonics. »»» |
|
