Legacy Recordings Announces First Round of New Digital Releases for 2010

Legacy Recordings, the world's foremost catalog music label, is continuing its on-going digital reissue initiative with a fresh round of classic album titles, from a variety of genres, to be released for the first time in the online digital realm in early 2010.

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"Legacy is delighted with this year's first set of digital releases," said Adam Block, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Legacy. "With acknowledged classics and forgotten treasures from a variety of genres, we believe we're offering something for every discriminating music fan."

The Legacy Recordings winter 2010 Digital Audio Longplay release schedule includes:

Black Happy - Peg Head (1994), Friendly Dog Salad (1995), The Last Polka (1995)

A Christian heavy metal band in Idaho called the Sacramen mutated into Black Happy, a somewhat more secular funk-rock-party ensemble that would become one of the Northwest's most sought-after cult bands. Legacy is happy to offer the band's core repertoire, including The Last Polka, a collection of live tracks and outtakes.

Blood, Sweat & Tears - New Blood (1972), No Sweat (1973), New City (1975)

Though New Blood, the fifth BS&T album, marked a number of significant personnel changes, including the departure of lead singer David Clayton-Thomas, the band's drummer and album producer Bobby Colomby carpe diemed the project into the Top 40 with a setlist that ran that gamut from Bob Dylan's "Down In The Flood" to Herbie Hancock's "Maiden Voyage" with a single, "So Long Dixie," penned by Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil.

BS&T's No Sweat, released in 1973, was produced by American jazz legend Steve Tyrell and features a cover of Traffic's "Empty Pages."

1975's New City marked Clayton-Thomas' return to the BS&T line-up with killer performances of "Ride Captain Ride," John Lee Hooker's "One Room Country Shack" and "Got To Get You Into My Life."

Colin Blunstone - One Year (1971)

As the voice of the Zombies, Colin Blunstone's murmuring breathy signature style was recognizable the world over through "Time of the Season," "She's Not There" and others. Blunstone's debut solo album, produced in collaboration with fellow ex-Zombies Rod Argent and Chris White, was recorded, literally, over the course of one year, from June 1970 through June 1971. Featuring four of Blunstone's original compositions, and heartbreaking cover of Tim Hardin's "Misty Roses," One Year is considered Colin Blunstone's solo masterpiece.

Angela Bofill - Too Tough (1983)

Bronx-born Latina R&B singer-songwriter-performer Angela Bofill came on strong with 1983's Too Tough, her second album for Arista. The album is a showcase of soulful ballads and dancefloor smashes performed by Angela and her band of heavy-hitters, including Sheila E on percussion, Randy Jackson on bass, Marc Russo on horns, and Narada Michael Walden on drums and keyboards kicking out an amazing setlist of fantastic originals and a definitive interpretation of "Ain't Nothing Like The Real Thing" featuring Boz Scaggs sharing co-lead vocals.

The Boo Radleys - Everything's Alright Forever (1992), Giant Steps (1993), Wake Up! (1995)

Named after the reclusive character in Harper Lee's "To Kill A Mockingbird" that launched Robert Duvall's career in the movie adaptation, the Liverpudlian Boo Radleys created a psychedelic trance-pop, a musical youth coup labeled "shoegazer" in the UK press, an unjustly overlooked subset of fin de siecle 90s BritPop. Everything's Alright Forever marked the Boo's debut for Glaswegian impresario Alan McGee's Creation Records in 1992. With a title inspired by the John Coltrane masterpiece, 1993's Giant Steps, the third Boo Radleys album, was named Album of the Year by both the NME and Select magazine in the UK. By far the Boo Radleys' most commercially successful album, 1995's Wake Up! peaked at #1 on the UK album charts while kicking out the Top 10 smash single "Wake Up Boo!"

The Bus Boys - American Worker (1982)

The ultimate in post-modern multi-cultural boogie-woogie bar-band irony, the Bus Boys reached an apogee of visibility when the Los Angeles-based African-American/Hispanic group, and two of their songs, were prominently featured in the Eddie Murphy/Nick Nolte action comedy smash "48 Hours." American Worker, the Bus Boys' second album for Arista, features the "48 Hours" hit "New Shoes."

Johnny Cash - Hello, I'm Johnny Cash (1970), The Johnny Cash Show (1970), Man In Black (1971), A Thing Called Love (1972), Johnny Cash and His Woman (1973), Junkie & the Juicehead Minus Me (1974), Sings Precious Memories (1975), John R. Cash (1975), Look At Them Beans (1975), One Piece At A Time (1976), The Last Gunfighter Ballad (1977) The Baron (1981), Adventures of Johnny Cash (1982), Rainbow (1985)

Legacy Recordings is proud to release a selection of essential recordings from the legendary Johnny Cash originally released from 1970-1985, a prolific and surprising epoch in the man in black's unparalleled career.

Included are: Hello, I'm Johnny Cash, a #1 Country/#6 Pop crossover featuring "If I Were A Carpenter," the chart-topping duet with June Carter Cash; the iconic #1 Country Album Man In Black; an album of duets with June, Johnny Cash and His Woman; several releases from 1975-76, a particularly eclectic period that would see Cash release a children's album, a gospel album (Sings Precious Memories), a covers album (John R. Cash), a country album (Look At Them Beans) and a live album; and Rainbow, Johnny's final album for Columbia Records.

The Darling Buds - Pop Said... (1988), Crawdaddy (1990)

With a name originating in a line in a Shakespearean sonnet ("Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May"), the Darling Buds were formed near Newport, South Wales in 1986 by 19 year-old vocalist Andrea Lewis. Where the group's debut album, Pop Said... offered a selection of catchy radio-ready pop tracks, their 1990 collection, Crawdaddy found the Buds blossoming with their most sophisticated and fully-realized music to-date.

Fastway - All Fired Up (1984)

Featuring Motorhead guitarist "Fast" Eddie Clarke, Humble Pie drummer Jerry Shirley and future Flogging Molly frontman Dave King, Fastway embodied that liminal period in rock history when pub-rock and heavy metal were mutating into a speedier music. All Fired Up, the second Fastway album, featured bassist Charlie McCracken.

Jan Hammer Group - Oh, Yeah? (1976)

Prague-born keyboard wizard Jan Hammer won a pair of Grammys in 1985 for his "Miami Vice Theme," a veritable touchstone for the decade. A profoundly influential ensemble player and solo artist, Hammer helped outline the possibilities of jazz-rock fusion with edge-cutting albums like Oh, Yeah?

Isaac Hayes - U-Turn (1986)

A forgotten hot-buttered-soul classic from the mid-1980s, U-Turn includes Hayes' emotionally charged interpretation of Freddie King's "Hey Girl" alongside the old-school anti-crack screed "Ike's Rap VIII" and the most sensuous "Can't Take My Eyes Off Of You" ever recorded.

Jermaine Jackson - You Said (1992)

You Said was Jermaine Jackson's first and only album for LaFace Records and is written and produced by the LaFace family: L.A. Reid & Babyface, Kayo, and Darryl Simmons. A dance-pop treasure, You Said stands among Jermaine's strongest solo collections.

Jules and the Polar Bears - Got No Breeding (1978)

American singer-songwriter Jules Shear, who's penned chart hits for Cyndi Lauper, the Bangles, Til Tuesday and himself, among others, first began making a splash in the late 1970s with his critically-acclaimed vehicle band, Jules and the Polar Bears. Mistakenly lumped in with the emerging new wave of its days, Jules & the Bears' Got No Breeding, with its canny mastery of mainstream pop, sounds both remarkably prescient and not-of-its-time.

Nils Lofgren - Flip (1985)

E Street Band/Grin guitarist Nils Lofgren penned all the tracks for his 1985 Columbia Records debut, Flip, an energetic roots-rock synthpop collection crackling with keyboard wizardry courtesy Tommy Mandel (Bryan Adams, the Clash, Cyndi Lauper, B-52's) and T Lavitz (Dixie Dregs, Jazz Is Dead, Jefferson Starship).

Darlene Love - Unconditional Love (1998)

In 1998, more than 30 years after she vocal-powered the AM radio classics "He's A Rebel," "Da Doo Ron Ron," "Today I Met The Boy I'm Gonna Marry" and others, Darlene Love realized a long-term personal musical dream with the release of Unconditional Love, a transformational gospel album produced and arranged by Edwin Hawkins. The New York Times wrote that Darlene Love's "...thunderbolt voice is as embedded in the history of rock and roll as Eric Clapton's guitar or Bob Dylan's lyrics." Unconditional Love is an essential chapter in the history of that voice.

Dave Mason - Mariposo de Oro (1978)

English singer-songwriter-guitarist-bon-vivant Dave Mason first rose to fame as a founding member of Traffic, who made many of his songs, notably "Feelin' Alright" into enduring hits. By the mid-1970s, Mason hit his stride as a solo artist with his easy-going flow of contemporary soft-rock. Mariposo de Oro finds Dave in prime, especially on album's Top 40 single, a distinctively plaintive read of the Shirelles' "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?"

Eddie Murphy - How Could It Be (1985), So Happy (1989)

Comedian Eddie Murphy first made the Billboard music charts in 1985 with How Could It Be, his first album of straight-up music, "Party All The Time," an anthemic Top 10 single (#2 on the Hot 100) produced by Rick James. Eddie returned with his second album of music in 1989, So Happy, a high-energy R&B/synthpop/hip-hop hybrid produced by Eddie Murphy, Nile Rodgers and Larry Blackmon. A modest crossover success at the time, So Happy reached #75 on the Billboard 200 and #22 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums charts while generating the #2 Hot R&B/Hip-Hop Singles track, "Put Your Mouth on Me."

Gary Myrick & the Figures - Gary Myrick & the Figures (1980)

Dallas-born guitar-playing songwriter Gary Myrick formed his & the Figures band after moving to Los Angeles from Austin. A catchy combination of roots rock, Texas blues, and new wave streamlining, Myrick & the Figures starting picking up modern rock airplay with tunes like "She Talks In Stereo," which wound up in the 1983 iconic teenflick "Valley Girl."

NKOTB - Face The Music (1994)

After a couple of years out of the spotlight, maturing teen idols New Kids On The Block returned to the studio to create a harder-edged R&B/hip-hop-flavored sound exemplified by the salacious single "Dirty Dawg."

The Primitives - Lovely (1988), Pure (1989)

Combining a love of 60s pop melody and 70s punk energy with pulsing 80s flash and fashion, the Primitives became the biggest thing out of Coventry since Chaucer with their 1988 international hit, "Crash" (which went on to bigger & bigger when a '95 Remix was featured in the movie hit "Dumber & Dumber"). The Primitives original version of "Crash," alongside the UK Top 100 hits "Stop Killing Me," "Thru the Flowers," and "Out of Reach," appear on the group's debut album, Lovely. With Pure, the Primitives' follow-up, they combine a newfound psychedelic aura to their shimmering pop songs.

The Romantics - Rhythm Romance (1985)

Formed on Valentine's Day 1977, the Detroit-based garage band the Romantics combined a love for the mid-sixties British invasion with the high-octane roar of the Motor City contemporaries to help create a still-standing rock & roll sub-set called power pop. The group's oft-overlooked fifth studio album includes the synth-pop hits "Test of Time" and "Mystified."

Legacy Recordings, the world's premier catalog music label, has opened its vaults to create the Legacy Digital Reissue initiative, making an incredible selection of classic albums and deep catalog rarities available for the first time in the digital realm.

Drawing from the vast resources of the Sony Music archives, spanning the entire history of commercial recordings, the ongoing Legacy Digital Reissue program offers music fans an opportunity to rediscover old favorites, experience forgotten musical rarities, and explore an incomparably rich variety of genres, artists and sounds from the last 125 years.

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SOURCE: Legacy Recordings

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