The strangest set being prepped for distribution is the upcoming 4CD Box featuring Joni Mitchell. In this set, Joni Mitchell has arranged her classic tracks in a series of four ballets heard over the four CDs. Joni has purposefully aligned the tracks in such a way as to create art in its own way. I will admit to this being a different way to present original music, to take classic tracks, and make a story with them. The CDs are packaged into a book with lyrics, photos, six new paintings, and new notes by Joni Mitchell herself. All of the songs are newly remastered. However, looking at it however you wish, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced, will be released on November 17 via Rhino Records. (Joni, how about a new album instead?)
The new Neil Young album, Storytone, will be released on November 4 on both CD, and 2CD Deluxe Editions. If you’re all about vinyl, then wait until December 16 to get a 2LP, 180g-weight vinyl set.
RCA Records will reissue Under The Table And Dreaming (1994) by Dave Matthews Band, planning for November 24.
4AD Records will release a Pixies collection, Doolittle 25: B-sides, Peel Sessions, and Demos, on both CD, and LP, on December 2.
Omnian Musc Group (OMG) will release CD and LP versions of In The Shower, by HOMESHAKE, planning for December 2.
RCA Records will issue a ‘best of’ for Gavin Degraw on Finest Hour: The Best Of Gavin Degraw, on October 21.
On November 17, Rhino will assemble the accumulated Warner Bros albums by Faces alumni, Rod Stewart, who had his own album to do. The set, The Studio Albums 1975-2001, will be a 14CD Box containing:
Atlantic Crossing (1975)
Night On The Town (1976)
Foot Loose & Fancy Free (1977)
Blondes Have More Fun (1978)
Foolish Behaviour (1980)
Tonight I’m Yours (1981)
Body Wishes (1983)
Camouflage (1984)
Every Beat Of My Heart (1986)
Out Of Order (1988)
Vagabond Heart (1991)
A Spanner In The Works (1995)
When We Were The New Boys (1998)
Human (2001)
Does it make you happy?
New AC/DC music is slated for December 2 via Columbia Records. The new album is being called Rock Or Bust.
July A.D. will release their next album, Letting Go, on November 4.
Nonesuch Records will release Alpha Mike Foxtrot: Rare Tracks 1994-2014, a 4CD, and, if desired, a 4LP, Box of 57 collected demos tracks, live tracks, and alternates from Wilco. the box will include a 64-page booklet with track by track recollections, notes, and photos. A sticker will be included in the package. The set is on the calendar for November 17.
Caroline Records will release the new one from Simple Minds on November 24. the new album is being called Big Music, and will be made available on standard single CD issue, vinyl LP, as well as a CD/DVD Deluxe Edition. Previews have the album in the same range as New Gold Dreams, and Sparkle In The Rain.
A few LP releases to note here include No Mean City (1978) by Nazareth, released by Plastic Head on November 17; A Midsummer Night’s Dream (2008) by Loreena McKennitt, via Quinlan Road, released on November 24; and the 6LP vinyl box of 180g platters, Cream: 1966-1972, on schedule by Polydor Records for December 9.
And finally, Columbia Records will release a 2DVD/3CD Box, Live In Berlin, featuring live Depeche Mode from their 2013 performance at O2 World Berlin. The Box will feature a lift box that will contain the five discs in their own mini-jacket sleeves as well as a 16-page booklet. The first DVD contains 21 performance tracks, with the second DVD containing the film, Alive In Berlin, along with fifteen interviews additions. The CDs will be full show audio from the show, with one of the CDs being the audio portion of the Alive In Berlin film. The BD set will add the 5.1 Surround audio and files for Delta Machine. That set is 2DVD/2CD/1BD.
Just for info, the Alberta Ballet company did a ballet to Joni’s music some time ago and she sanctioned it, so this box set is not as stange a thing as it might appear to be. It was quite successful here and I don’t know it it was staged anywhere else. Joni went to art college here in Calgary before embarking on her music career.
I don’t deny her greatness. It just seems like a marketing gimmick to get another flow of revenue started. It is a unique way to present a collection, though!