The New Sciemtist

The New Colony Six started out as one of the better garage bands to come out of the Midwest in the mid-'60s, playing tough British Invasion-style rock & roll (their "At the River's Edge" made it onto the Nuggets box set), and they later evolved into a surprisingly sophisticated and skillful pop group that scored nationwide hits with the singles "Love You So Much" and "Things I'd Like to Say." However, this collection of odds and ends doesn't quite play to either side of the band's personality; in fact, most of the 24 songs aren't actually by the New Colony Six, with 11 tunes by the Raymond John Michael Band (which featured three NC6 alumni, singer Ray Graffia, drummer Chick James, and keyboard man Craig Kemp) and one each by Junior and Graffia, both latter-day Ray Graffia projects…

Though it's not obvious from the cover, this 22-track CD compilation is basically a reissue of the New Colony Six's third and fourth LPs (1968's Revelations and 1969's Attacking a Straw Man), presenting the albums one after the other with their original track sequences. This was the era in which the Chicago band, which started off with a rawer garage pop sound, softened its approach considerably and found some modest national commercial success. Those who swear by the group's earlier work (particularly the excellent 1966 debut, Breakthrough) are likely to be disappointed by the far more mainstream harmony pop/rock of these records, though on the other hand, fans of groups like the Association might favor this era more than the previous one…

The Super Deluxe Edition contains 75 audio tracks across 7 CDs, of which 47 are previously unreleased, including 33 studio tracks from Prince’s legendary Vault. • The Super Deluxe Edition opens with Prince & The New Power Generation’s multi-platinum album, Diamonds And Pearls, dazzlingly remastered for the very first time by Prince’s original mastering engineer Bernie Grundman. Also included are 15 of the incredible remixes and B-sides from the era, including the never commercially released “Gett Off (Damn Near 10 Min.)” mix, all of which have also been remastered for the very first time. At the heart of the set sit 33x previously unreleased studio recordings from Prince’s legendary Vault, making up three hours of audio. The set also includes an entire previously unreleased audio recording of Prince & The New Power Generation’s preview performance of the Diamonds And Pearls tour at Prince’s Minneapolis club, Glam Slam, on January 11th, 1991.

Barb Wired Tour Vol. 2 is the second of two volumes of Empress Valley’s ambitious nine disc compilation of important tapes from Ron Wood’s New Barbarians side project in support of his solo album Gimme Some Neck. Picking up where The Drug Dealer Tapes Vol. 1 (Empress Valley EVSD 196/200) leaves off, Vol. 2 contains four discs with another hour of the tour rehearsal tape along with two complete shows…