Chip R. Bell

"From Out of the Blue" is an album by the Philadelphia soul group Blue Magic, released in 1989. It was regarded as a comeback album. The album was produced by Vincent Bell and Alvin Moody. It was released via OBR Records, a Def Jam subsidiary that concentrated on R&B and soul. The songs "Romeo and Juliet" and "It's Like Magic" were top 40 hits on the Hot R&B Singles chart. "Romeo and Juliet" peaked at #89 on the UK Singles Chart.

"Hot Buttered Soul" is the 2nd studio album by American soul musician Isaac Hayes. Released in 1969, it is recognized as a landmark in soul music. Recorded with The Bar-Kays, the album features four lengthy tracks; bolstered by the Burt Bacharach/Hal David cover "Walk On By" and an almost 19-minute long version of Jimmy Webb's "By the Time I Get to Phoenix", both songs were edited significantly and released as a double A-side single in July 1969. The album peaked at #1 on the top R&B chart, and at #8 on the Billboard 200.

This 2 CD Legacy Edition of "Elvis: That's The Way It Is" features an expanded version of the original RCA album. Added is four single sides from the period and a selection of "fly-on-the-wall" outtakes from the June Nashville sessions that produced the majority of tracks for the LP. Disc 2 features a previously unreleased concert from Elvis' 1970 "Summer Season" recorded on August 12. The 24-page booklet features an insightful essay, photos and memorabilia. This new 2-CD Legacy Edition of the album Elvis: That's The Way It Is that accompanied the film directed by Denis Sanders celebrates this memorable era in the career of Elvis Presley with an expanded version of the original Gold-certified RCA release.

This extravagant six-CD set documents the astonishing life span of the first pop independent label in the U.K., Immediate Records. Founded in 1965, Immediate flipped, flopped, and staggered its own way, competing against unhip American labels like EMI and Decca until late 1969. The label, and the documentary CD set, showcases in particular the Small Faces, who enjoyed a brief U.K. number one hit, Ogden's Nut Gone Flake. More familiar to American listeners will no doubt be the three-chord sock-hop favorite "Hang on Sloopy" by the McCoys, and a number of covers of familiar American folk-rock hits are present as well. The esoteric collector will appreciate inclusions by such café balladeers as the Poets and Les Fleurs-de-Lis, also signed by Immediate before the advent of the swinging London sound, marked by the Rolling Stones revolution and other mod developers influencing the pants off the tiniest studio cover bands. Immediate also helped sculpt the success of anguished bellower Chris Farlowe, soon to be joined by the similarly throaty vibrato of PP Arnold and, of course, manager/producer Andrew Oldham's best toss of the dice, the Small Faces, whom he ripped away from Decca. By the fourth disc, you are, in fact, in the throes of swinging London, featuring Farlowe's heart-stopping "Yesterday's Papers" and Arnold's "The First Cut Is the Deepest," written by the much-in-demand Cat Stevens. Most of the music is minimal and often out of tune, production at an early-time low, replete with tinny echoes and accidental outtake moments.

Although the promotional material indicates that keyboardist/producer/composer Eitan Kenner was experiencing personal turmoil during the creation of 8Ball City, the music is upbeat, almost giddy. Helium powered synths spin out surging melodies against compound rhythms and chord progressions climb ever heavenward. Call it "happy prog," complex, cheerful music that nods to Frank Zappa without getting clenched or sarcastic, apes Yes just a bit but never gets ponderous (and eschews vocals).