Sound & Recording September 2020

Deluxe 4CD set showcasing one of the most notable albums of the mid-1980s, and the phenomenon that surrounded it.

The Complete Keen Years: 1957–1960, collects Sam Cooke’s body of work as he began releasing secular albums, stepping away from the Soul Stirrers where he found great success as a gospel singer. Cooke had been releasing and dominating the gospel sales market over the six years previous to “You Send Me” and “Summertime” being released. Within this newly remastered collection are his unique versions of standards alongside performances that showcase his songwriting skills. Sam Cooke defined himself as a voice ahead of his time elevating the sound of soul at the turn of the decade.

One of the towering figures of 20th century's music, Alabama-born pianist and organist Herman "Sun Ra" Blount (1914) became the cosmic musician par excellence. Despite dressing in extraterrestrial costumes (but inspired by the pharaohs of ancient Egypt) and despite living inside a self-crafted sci-fi mythology (he always maintained that he was from Saturn, and no biographer conclusively proved his birth date) and despite littering his music with lyrics inspired to a self-penned spiritual philosophy (he never engaged in sexual relationships apparently because he considered himself an angel), Sun Ra created one of the most original styles of music thanks to a chronic disrespect for both established dogmas and trendy movements.

Ultravox‘s 1980 album, Vienna, is to be reissued for its 40th anniversary as an extensive 5CD+DVD box set that includes a plethora of unreleased material and Steven Wilson stereo and 5.1 mixes. Vinyl formats also available.

Dancer, actor, and singer Fred Astaire worked steadily in various entertainment media during nine decades of the 20th century. The most celebrated dancer in the history of film, with appearances in 31 movie musicals between 1933 and 1968 (and a special Academy Award in recognition of his accomplishments in them), Astaire also danced on-stage and on television (garnering two Emmy Awards in the process), and he even treated listening audiences to his accomplished tap dancing on records and on his own radio series. He appeared in another eight non-musical feature films and on numerous television programs, resulting in an Academy Award nomination and a third Emmy Award as an actor. His light tenor voice and smooth, conversational phrasing made him an ideal interpreter for the major songwriters of his era, and he introduced dozens of pop standards, many of them written expressly for him, by such composers as Harold Arlen, Irving Berlin, George Gershwin, Jerome Kern, Burton Lane, Frank Loesser, Johnny Mercer, Cole Porter, Arthur Schwartz, Harry Warren, and Vincent Youmans.

“As an artist in this time of significant upheaval, society seemingly having reached the end of its current iteration, it’s of critical importance to absorb and interpret this process of dissolution - and of the transformation that hopefully follows it” says Aaron Turner, guitarist and vocalist for the expressionistic metal ensemble SUMAC. “While I don’t believe we’re on the brink of collective destruction precisely now, this is clearly a pivotal stage in the story of humankind - and there is something that feels right about this music at this exact and very uncertain moment.” In this case, the music in discussion is May You Be Held, the latest album for the American-Canadian trio.

In Absentia was Porcupine Tree’s seventh studio album, first released in 2002, the first in a run of three albums that for many represent the pinnacle of the band’s artistic achievements. Not many albums can claim to have created a new genre, but with its fusion of metal, progressive rock, ambient textures, and acoustic singer-songwriter styled material, it became a blueprint for a generation of bands to come. It also represented a commercial breakthrough for the band, eventually going on to sell three times more than the band’s previous releases. In Absentia features many of Porcupine Tree’s most beloved songs, including Trains, The Sound of Muzak and Blackest Eyes. While not a formal concept album, many of the songs have common themes related to serial killers, youthful innocence gone wrong, and observations of the modern world, setting a template for many of songwriter Steven Wilson’s future songs.

Johnny Letman (1917-1992) was a trumpeter and singer in the traditional- mainstream vein, who had been on the scene for quite a long time, playing with such bandleaders as Lucky Millinder and Cab Calloway, before rising to prominence in the late 50s. But his lack of recognition (on records, at least) had not been—like the fate of some other mainstreamers—a matter of simply being forgotten. Letman never was known to any extent until 1958, when he started working out of the Metropole in New York City.