Upcoming Reissues & Releases (April 25 - May 30)

Another month, another list.. Kicking off with a slew of KC & The Sunshine band reissues.. To be honest, I don't have many of their albums (I think I have only one so far), but with these reissues, I just might try them out..

April 25th Update: Added listing for an upcoming reissue of Sheila & B. Devotion's Chic-produced album.. Further updates to this listing on January 19, 2007

April 25th:


KC & The Sunshine Band - S/T (1975, TK / 2006, Collectors Choice)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | dustygroove.com
Starting off this round is a reissue of their second album, containing some of their big hits like "Get Down Tonite" and "That's The Way (I Like It)." Ten years ago Rhino reissued this album as "K.C. & The Sunshine Band .. and more." That issue contains six bonus tracks, while this reissue is just the basic original album. So, even though the '95 reissue is now out of print, it's probably still the definitive one.
ALLMUSIC.COM ALBUM REVIEW


KC & The Sunshine Band - The Sound of Sunshine (1975, TK / 2006, Collectors Choice)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | dustygroove.com
Also released 1975, this one is an instrumental album. Also included on this album is a instrumental remake of George McCrae's big hit "Rock Your Baby," which Sunshine Band principals H.W. Casey and Richard Finch originally wrote and produced. As far as I know, this is the first time this has been on CD..


KC & The Sunshine Band - Part 3 (1976, TK / 2006, Collectors Choice)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | dustygroove.com
The All Music Guide gives this one a glowing review, with four and a half stars out of five. The review mentions this as their best and most successful album. Like their self-titled second album, this was also reissued in 1995 by Rhino, with 8 bonus tracks, most of them being solo tracks from K.C. AKA Harry Wayne Casey from the early '80s. So again, this upcoming reissue is just the basic original album. That said, if you're a stickler for the bonuses, the 1995 reissue is probably preferable to this one..


KC & The Sunshine Band - Who Do Ya Love (1978, TK, Collectors Choice)
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Not as successful as the previous albums, even the All Music Guide seems to give it a mixed review. Just like "The Sound of Sunshine" reissue, this seems to be the first time this album has been released on CD..

May 2nd:


Dalida - Les Années Disco (2006, Barclay/Universal)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | amazon.fr
A long-awaited collection of the late French legend's disco work. I'm not too familiar with her output, but her strong, cult-like following is well, legendary.. Her first disco song "J'attendrai" became a hit in 1976, so apparently this was released in time for the 30th anniversary of that song's debut. I must admit, I've been curious about her "Gigi In Paradisco" album for a little while now, so I might take a chance on this collection. This CD was already released this past March in France, but May 2nd marks the international release. Lots of info about Dalida on her Wikipedia entry..

May 11th:


Sheila & B. Devotion - King Of The World (1980, Carrere / 2006, Warner UK)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | amazon.co.uk | amazon.fr
(Added 4/25/06) I have to thank a kind reader, Maurice, for alerting me to this.. Absolutely can't wait for this one! One of my favourite Chic Organization productions (then again, I think all of them are great). In my opinion, "Spacer," the big hit off of this album, is one of Chic's greatest efforts. Some of you might remember it being the basis of Alcazar's hit "Crying At The Discotheque" from several years back.. As for the rest of the album, I'd say it's one of Chic's more interesting and somewhat experimental efforts. Songs like "Charge Plates And Credit Cards," "Cover Girls," and "King Of The World," see them introducing more new-wave elements into their signature sound. Something of a pre-cursor to the album they would do for Debbie Harry ("Koo Koo") the following year. Then again, I suppose with Sheila's charming, yet thick French accented English, they probably didn't have much choice but to experiment a little bit. In any case, I'm so glad this is being reissued now; copies of the long out of print budget CD reissue from the 90s often go for upwards of $100 US on eBay believe it or not..
Update 1/19/07: I know this is a very late update, but I just found out about the French release of this reissue, released June 12th. It has a bunch of bonus tracks (six in total) that the UK release doesn't have. Included are five bonus mixes of "Spacer," four of them from a "Spacer - Remix 1992" release. Although I'm not so crazy about early 90's "disco updates," another one of the bonus tracks is the original US 12" Mix of "Your Love Is Good," which I never even knew existed.. Anyway, that said, I just wish I had found out about this release earlier.. Oh well.
INFO @ CHIC TRIBUTE
KING OF THE WORLD LP @ DISCOGS

May 15th:


LaToya Jackson - S/T (1980, Polydor / 2006, Cherry Red)
buy @ amazon.co.uk | play.com | dustygroove.com
At last! The UK release of my favourite Jackson's debut album. I had posted a little bit about this back in the first reissues and releases post, but it seems now there's finally a definitive release date. This album contains, among other things, the dancefloor hit "If You Feel The Funk," and "Night Time Lover," a great track written and produced by Brother Jacko himself, and "Are You Ready" written by Billy Ocean.
INFO @ LA TOYA HAVEN FORUM
ALLMUSIC.COM ALBUM REVIEW

May 23rd:


Cheryl Lynn - In The Night/Instant Love (1981, 1982, Columbia / 2006, Collectables)
buy @ cduniverse.com | amazon.com | dustygroove.com
Another release from Collectables, who've really been cranking them out lately.. A two-in-one set featuring one of my favourite Cheryl albums, "In The Night" (which includes her hit "Shake It Up Tonight"), along with her 1982 album "Instant Love." I haven't heard the "Instant Love" album yet, but it seems that it was produced by the late, great Luther Vandross. After being a tool for a number of producers during the 70s, by the early 80s, Luther was starting to build a pretty impressive resumé as a producer in his own right (see Aretha Franklin's "Jump To It"). It's a pretty timely release because until now, I've been wondering how I was going to get my hands on the out of print (and expensive) Japanese CDs of those albums..
CHERYL LYNN @ ALLMUSIC.COM
CHERYL LYNN @ DISCOMUSEUM.COM

May 30th:


Salsoul Presents Disco Trance and Cosmic Flavas (2006, Salsoul/Suss'd)
buy @ dustygroove.com
Another release in the long line of attractive, comprehensive "Salsoul Flavas" compilations from Salsoul's UK licencees. Unfortunately the only place with any info on this is Dusty Groove. The Suss'd/Salsoul site (www.salsoul.co.uk) is no help either. Update: At some point the title changed from "Oddities and Electro Flavas," to the current title. While it is released, for whatever reason, Amazon US or UK don't seem to have a proper listing for the double CD version.

CATEGORIES: REISSUES & RELEASES