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For audio
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February / March 2003
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 THE BEAU BRUMMELS |
 SMOKEY ROBINSON & THE MIRACLES |
 WANDA JACKSON |
 LEONARD COHEN |
 GREAT LADIES OF ROCK & ROLL |
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U2 The Best Of 1990-2000 (Interscope / Island)
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THE
BEAU BRUMMELS
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SMOKEY
ROBINSON & THE MIRACLE
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WANDA
JACKSON
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LEONARD
COHEN The Essential Leonard Cohen (Columbia / Legacy)
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VARIOUS
ARTISTS Great Ladies Of Rock & Roll - The '60s (Collectables)
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Spanning
that first post-MTV decade, the ‘90s brought forth a number of
U2 videos, single tracks, b-sides and remixes, the best of which is
featured on The Best Of 1990-2000—released on November 5th
2002 as a double CD set, featuring the A-sides on disc one with a second
CD consisting of b-sides and remixes, with an added bonus DVD. The words
U2 and video go hand in hand and Interscope's DVD version of
The Best Of 1990-2000 gives a good indication of just where the
rock video would go as a creative art form. There’s never a dull
moment on the 16 track DVD which concentrates on U2's‘90s A-side
singles tracks. A bonus DVD entitled The History Mix, a four
track DVD which nicely fits into the DVD packaging, is available as
a bonus disc on the double disc CD version. The sound quality of both
the CD set and DVD is quite amazing and for video buffs, the DVD features
a mind-boggling array of special features and mini-documentaries. Best
bet is to pick-up the double CD set, with the bonus DVD while the uninitiated
must check out The Best Of 1990-2000 on DVD. 
During
the late 1990’s, Collector’s Choice Music earned a
solid reputation for their enormous reissue catalog of CDs. Their always
updated catalog features the best vintage sounds from the past 50 years
of music greatness while their Collector’s Choice label has also
been booming of late. Each Collector’s Choice CD reissue features
original artwork with liner notes that helps put each particular album
into a fitting perspective. In late 2002 the catalog label reissued
a pair of albums from the underrated American mid ‘60s folk-rock
band The Beau Brummels. Best known for their mid ‘60s AM
radio pop hit “Laugh, Laugh”, the group—featuring songwriter
Ron Elliott and singer Sal Valentino—really branched
out musically for a pair of albums recorded for Warner Bros. Records.
Produced by Lenny Waronker, the first of ever CD reissue of Triangle
(1967) is a great rediscovery for those into late ‘60s
album-oriented artists like Harry Nilsson as well as Van Dyke Parks
and Randy Newman, both of whom contribute to Triangle. A year
after Triangle, The Beau Brummels released their final album
Bradley’s Barn. Like Triangle, Bradley’s
Barn was critically acclaimed yet it never translated to big sales.
Collector’s Choice has done right by ‘60s pop fans, reissuing
these two excellent Beau Brummels albums complete with original cover
art and revealing, newly penned liner notes. 
Back
in the days of the mid ‘60s when Motown and British Invasion pop
ruled the Top 40 charts, Smokey Robinson & The Miracles were
AM radio kings and to commemorate those golden days, Motown / UMG
recently reissued OOO Baby, Baby: The Anthology. Spanning 1958-1972—the
heyday of Smokey Robinson & The Miracles—the double CD set
features 52 tracks including all 28 of the group’s Top 40 hits,
first ever stereo mixes of the group’s B-sides along with a 24
page booklet filled with a number of color photos. Although he left
The Miracles in 1972 to pursue a solo career, Robinson still remains
a potent force in the music world. Filled with rocking soul-pop classics,
ooo Baby, Baby: The Anthology proves these timeless gems will
shine forever. 
One
of the great Rockabilly singers of the late ‘50s and early ‘60s,
Wanda Jackson combined the musical personality of Buddy Holly with the
excitement of Elvis, with whom she toured with in 1955 and ‘56.
Back in the early ‘50s the Oklahoma singer had her own radio show
and by ‘56 she was cutting incredibly hot sides for Capitol
Records including “Mean, Mean Man”, “Honey Bop”,
“Let’s Have A Party” and her ‘57 classic “Fujiyama
Mama”. Some of the great country twang, rockabilly bop and rock
and roll performances of the ‘50s, these tracks featured a number
of musicians, arrangers and great guitar players like the late, great
Joe Maphis, an up-and-coming picker, soon to be superstar Buck
Owens (who went on to releases numerous country albums on Capitol)
and Poe Kat Vernon Sandusky. In late 2002 Capitol finally set
the record straight with Stateside CD reissues of Rockin’
With Wanda (1960) and the ‘56-58 singles
and more that went in to making up her 1958 self-titled album Wanda
Jackson. Both CD reissues feature historic liner notes,
a range of bonus tracks and cool color photos—par for the course
with so many of the great reissues on Capitol / EMI. 
A
native of Montreal, Leonard Cohen is well represented on the 2002
Columbia Legacy release of The Essential Leonard Cohen. The
31 track double disc set spans tracks from his 1967 self-titled Songs
Of Leonard Cohen through to tracks featured on his 2001 Columbia
release Ten New Songs. Although primarily a folk-based favorite
among the late ‘60s folk-poet crowd—he was discovered by Judy
Collins who covered his early hit “Suzanne” in 1966 and which
was also covered by Noel Harrison—Cohen’s pop leanings were
evident especially on his 1988 album I’m Your Man and his
1977 album Death Of A Ladies Man, produced by Phil Spector (strangely
the Spector sessions are unrepresented here). Early favorites like “Bird
On The Wire”, various comebacks through the years like The Future
(1992) to the four new tracks recorded with singer-songwriter Sharon
Robinson make The Essential Leonard Cohen a fine overview
of Cohen’s fabled career as a folk-rock innovator. 
Another
great, well..collectible CD from PA.-based Collectables is Great
Ladies Of Rock & Roll - The ‘60s. There was
an amazing number of great female vocalists throughout the 20th Century
but the ‘60s had to be the decade of the great pop female
singer. This was especially true in the innocent world of pre-Beatles
early ‘60s AM pop radio when singers like Little Eva (“Locomotion”),
Lesley Gore (“It’s My Party”), Little Peggy
March (“I Will Follow Him”) and girl groups like The
Chiffons (“He’s So Fine”) and The Exciters (“Tell
Him”) represented the best in American music. Balancing out the
pre-1964 American girl group sound there’s also a number of early
tracks by well established mid ‘60s singer legends like Petula
Clark (“Downtown”), Aretha Franklin (“Respect)
and Linda Ronstadt (“Different Drum”). The 25 track
Great Ladies Of Rock & Roll features a fine range of classic
chart-topping ‘60s pop and there’s even a tie-in with the
famed NYC-based oldies station WCBS-FM 101.1