Why Capitol Record’s vinyl master Ron McMaster is busier than ever: Ron McMaster, skilled in the art of cutting vinyl records, had been planning to retire. To the longtime Capitol Studios mastering engineer, the era of digital streaming services such as Spotify seemed to sound a death knell for his profession. He’d watched album sales plummet after Napster and LimeWire came on to the scene. Record labels and retailers went out of business. The venerable Tower Records closed its doors. “There was a time when I really didn’t think I was going to be able to pass this on to anyone,” said McMaster, 67. “Nobody cared.”
First-ever collection of Sun Ra vocal tracks to be released on double vinyl: Modern Harmonic has announced The Space Age Is Here To Stay, the very first collection of tracks from Sun Ra’s songbook. The double LP compiles over seventy-five minutes of vocal performances and mind-expanding works by Ra and his Arkestra. The release includes chanting free-jazz pieces like ‘Space Is The Place’ and ‘Interplanetary Music No.1’, as well as swinging ballads, ‘Enlightenment’ and ‘Sometimes I’m Happy’. As the label points out, “it wouldn’t be Sun Ra without his space age lyrics”: Take your first step out to outer space / You’re like a little baby who never walked before.
Yoko Ono Launches Massive Reissue Project, Artist teams with Secretly Canadian to rerelease 11 LPs, including three albums this November: Yoko Ono has teamed with the Secretly Canadian label to reissue the artist’s entire musical output from 1968 to 1985. The reissue project kicks off November 11th with a trio of Ono LPs: 1968’s Unfinished Music No. 1: Two Virgins, 1969’s Unfinished Music No. 2: Life With Lions and 1970’s Plastic Ono Band. Each album will reconstruct the original vinyl packaging alongside remastered audio. The reissues marks the first time these Ono albums will be available as digital downloads.
Mitch Hedberg’s entire discography to be release for the first time on vinyl. Mitch Hedberg’s singular style and absurd observations about everyday life turned him into a comedy legend. Now you can relive his entire body of work on vinyl courtesy of Comedy Central Records. “Mitch Hedberg: The Complete Vinyl Collection” is available now for pre-order on Amazon and will be released November 4th, 2016, just in time for the holidays.
