Friday New Releases – December 2, 2022

We are getting closer to Christmas and the end of the year so releases tend to start slowing down and this week is pretty slow. A couple great box sets coming and I can’t believe Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s album ‘Trouble’ is 25 years old already. I think I’ll give that one a listen for sure. Let me know what you want to hear this week and what we may have missed on the list. Thanks for stopping by and next week will have a few more releases then this week.

  • 81vqT8FPJoL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Kenny Wayne Shepherd – Trouble is 25 – (Mascot Label Group / Provogue)
  • 81L+W--B49L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Janis Joplin & Jorma Kaukonen – The Legendary Typewrite Tape: 6/25/64 Jorma’s House – (Fantility Corp & Jorma Kaukonen / Omnivore Recordings)
  • 811uUJhGR8L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  The Beach Boys – Sail On Sailor 1972 (Super Deluxe Edition) – (Capitol Records / Brother Records)
  • 71tfZoyqMWL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Paul McCartney – The 7″ Singles – (MPL Communications)
  • 91jAjIsXtPL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Cody Johnson – Cody Johnson & the Rockin’ CJB Live – (CoJo Music / Warner Music)
  • 91sOJCPZ96L._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  NOFX – Double Album – (Fat Wreck Chords)
  • 81fp9elQ8tL._AC_UY436_FMwebp_QL65_  Elvis Presley – Elvis on Tour – (RCA Records / Sony Music)
Continue reading “Friday New Releases – December 2, 2022”

Scorpions – ‘Best of Rockers ‘N’ Ballads’ (1989) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)

The Scorpions were flying high. From the release of ‘Lovedrive’ in 1979 all the way up to ‘Savage Amusement’ in 1988, they could do no wrong. Their label, Mercury Records, thought, “hey, good time for a greatest hits compilation”…and ‘Best of Rockers ‘N’ Ballads’ was born. Since they have had other compilations focusing on Pre-‘Lovedrive’, Mercury Records released a compilation of only songs that were during the bands tenure on Mercury from 1979-1988. To make it enticing to fans, they added a few new remixes and unreleased tracks and I am a fan of new mixes and unreleased tracks.

The album was released on November 29, 1989 just in time for Christmas. And what a present it was. The album sold over 1,000,000 copies and is the only Scorpions compilation to be certified Platinum. The album went to #43 on the U.S. charts and had one single that went to #5 on the Mainstream Rock Charts. Now, depending on where you were in the world, you got a different track list. The European version had an extra track, “Is There Anybody There” from ‘Lovedrive, but this was a remix and previously unreleased. They also got a remix of “Hey You” which is a Non-Album single from 1980 that hasn’t been released on any album up to this point. The US and Japanese releases did not have either of those tracks, but did have the original version of “Hey You”. The European CD release also included one more rare track. It was the version of “China White” which features the guitar solo that was only available on the US Blackout release. If you are a completist on the Scorpions, you have a lot to buy here.

Continue reading “Scorpions – ‘Best of Rockers ‘N’ Ballads’ (1989) – Album Review (The Scorpions Collection Series)”