Epic Masters

With its first album of new material in over four years, Iron & Wine is proud to announce the new album, Beast Epic. Of the album, Sam Beam states “I have been and always will be fascinated by the way time asserts itself on our bodies and our hearts. The ferris wheel keeps spinning and we’re constantly approaching, leaving or returning to something totally unexpected or startlingly familiar. The rite of passage is an image I’ve returned to often because I feel we’re all constantly in some stage of transition. Beast Epic is saturated with this idea but in a different way simply because each time I return to the theme, I’ve collected new experiences to draw from.

Shane Martin (aka Neale Lundgren) first recorded for Columbia’s Epic subsidiary as a teenager in 1968 scoring a modest hit with his debut 45 “You’re So Young”. The record made its way to the clubs in the UK where the B-side was preferred and some 40 years on “I Need You” remains a Northern Soul anthem.

The group comprised Dennis Ferrante, Richard LePage, Eddie Leonetti, Tommy Brannick and Jack Santoro. In this compialtion collection we will be able to hear the singles and the best hits of the band during their work and career at Epic Records. Immerse yourself in the atmosphere of the songs of the 60's and remember this unforgettable time.

The second album of Tatiana Diamond, Epic Chic is officially released just in time for the holidays!

b. Harold Ralph Morrison, 30 January 1931, Highlonesome, Missouri, USA, d. 21 December 1993, Springfield, Missouri, USA. Morrison played banjo, guitar, steel guitar and dobro and was also a talented comedian. He made his first radio appearances in 1950 and the following year, he teamed up with fiddler/guitarist Jimmy Gateley, first working with the Red River Rustlers on KJSB Jamestown, North Dakota, before the two moved to WWVA Wheeling, West Virginia. They worked mainly as a duo but on occasions also played in Dusty Owens’ band and played on Columbia Records sessions with Owens in 1954.

b. Robert Autry Inman, 6 January 1929, Florence, Alabama, USA, d. 6 September 1988. An early prodigy, Inman played guitar at the age of five and at 12, he formed his band, the Alabama Blue Boys. He played on various local radio stations and in the mid-40s, he began to appear on the WWVA Wheeling Jamboree. He appeared on the Grand Ole Opry in 1947, where he became friendly with Cowboy Copas.

US band MASTERS of the AIRWAVES was formed sometime in 1973, after guitarist Jimmy Berick landed a record contract with Epic Records. He called upon some old musical friends, David Rada (drums) and Randy Schuchart (bass) to form the rhythm section of the band he needed. Both of them were plying their trade in the band Silverhill at the time, and the vocalist of that act, Jonathon Fredrick Boring (vocals), decided to hook up with Berick's band project as well.

"The Isley Brothers: The RCA Victor and T-Neck Album Masters (1959-1983)", a monumental 23-disc box set collection chronicling the sonic evolution and abiding achievements of the unprecedented R&B ensemble, The Isley Brothers. Features newly remastered versions of The Isley Brothers' 21 albums, nearly all of which are expanded with rare mixes and tracks making their CD and digital debuts. This box set follows The Isley Brothers through their transformation from a 1950's doo-wop/gospel vocal group into the world's preeminent R&B Rock'N'Soul powerhouse party band. Includes 84 rare and previously unreleased bonus tracks including the "Great Lost Isley Brothers Album" - Wild In Woodstock: Live At Bearsville Sound Studio 1980, a live studio double album now newly restored.

Kelly Hogan is one of the finest and most musically astute vocalists working in American popular music, but this seems to be better understood by her peers than the general public. Hogan cut a pair of fine albums for Bloodshot Records near the turn of the millennium, but they failed to find an audience, and she has since become best known for her fine work as Neko Case's backing vocalist, while she's performed with an array of artists from Tortoise, the Drive-By Truckers, and the Mekons to Amy Ray, Jakob Dylan, and Mavis Staples. Given her busy schedule working with others, it seemed an open question if Hogan would ever get around to making another record of her own, but I Like to Keep Myself in Pain not only puts her in the spotlight where she belongs, it's an instant classic that's as strong as any record that she's appeared on, no small achievement given her résumé.