Remembering Curtis Mayfield, born on this date in 1942. —Ed.

A great soundtrack album by one artist is a rare thing; they’re generally chock-a-block full of instrumental filler and thin on solid tunes that can stand on their own. Not so Curtis Mayfield’s 1972 soundtrack to that same year’s blaxploitation crime drama Super Fly; it’s a non-stop funk machine that actually outgrossed the film it was created to accompany. Which doesn’t surprise me, because there isn’t a single subpar song on it.

The tale of one Youngblood Priest, an African-American cocaine dealer trying to escape the drug business, Super Fly boasted the great tag lines, “Never a dude like this one! He’s got a plan to stick it to The Man!” and was directed by Gordon Parks, Jr., who also directed that other legendary blaxploitation film, 1971’s Shaft. Most of the album’s songs, amongst them the superfunky title track, “Pusherman,” and “Freddie’s Dead” all directly address the cocaine business, and all are soul/funk standards that sound as fresh now as they did way back in the year of Richard Nixon’s reelection.

As for the LP’s two instrumentals—a remarkably low number for a soundtrack LP—“Junkie Chase” is a fiery jazz/funk number with stabbing horns and some mean, mean wah-wah guitar, to say nothing of some great piano, while “Think,” as its title indicates, is a slower and more introspective piece that boasts a lovely melody is and propelled by some really nice guitar and great horns, including one expressive saxophone. The intro sounds like the beginning of every ballad The Red Hot Chili Peppers have ever written, but I refuse to hold that against it, no matter how much the Peppers disgust me.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The Stooges self-titled and Fun House albums reimagined for audiophiles on new reel-to-reel and Dolby Atmos editions arriving today. Fun House’s open-reel debut and The Stooges and Fun House’s immersive audio mix offer fans two fresh ways to experience its chaotic brilliance.

Fun House (Rhino High Fidelity R2R) were both duplicated in real time from a 1:1 copy of the original flat analog master tape. The result is a master-quality listening experience that captures the full dynamics of the recording without the surface noise or groove wear of vinyl. The 15 i.p.s. half-track 1/4” tape is produced to the IEC equalization standard on premium RTM LPR90 tape stock and housed on a 10.5” metal reel. The reel-to-reel edition is limited to 350 copies available exclusively at Rhino.com.

The Stooges and Fun House (Atmos) brings together Dolby Atmos (TrueHD 7.1) and Hi-Res Stereo (DTS-HD MA) mixes of both albums on Blu-ray, newly created by legendary producer Ed Stasium from the original multi-track tapes. Stasium’s immersive Atmos mix elevates the album’s primal energy, placing the listener in the center of the studio floor as the band deconstructs rock music in real time. Rhino will exclusively offer a bundle of all three audiophile titles from The Stooges for $354.98

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab (MoFi), the leader in high-fidelity audio reissues, will release the definitive audiophile editions of two Doobie Brothers classics: the album that made the group superstars, 1973’s The Captain and Me, as well as 1974’s soulful What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.

The Numbered-Edition 180g 45RPM 2LP sets are available beginning with the release of The Captain and Me on May 29 (order HERE); What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits will follow on June 5 (pre-order HERE). The Hybrid SACD version of the latter is available for purchase now (HERE).

Sourced from the original analog master tapes (1/4” / 15 IPS Dolby A analog master to DSD 256 to analog console to lathe), pressed at Fidelity Record Pressing in California, and housed in a Stoughton gatefold jacket, Mobile Fidelity’s numbered-edition 180g 45RPM 2LP sets benefit from extraordinary soundstages, ultra-quiet backgrounds, big dynamics, and spot-on imaging. Producer Ted Templeman’s excellent production charms like never before.

Taking off on the commercial success of Toulouse Street, The Captain and Me propelled the Doobie Brothers to superstar status. Having spent an entire year on the charts after its March 1973 release, the band’s third record features one classic after another.

It’s no wonder why The Captain and Me stands as one of the feel-good California quintet’s signature works. Balanced between Tom Johnston’s harder-edged contributions and Patrick Simmons’ rustic excursions, the album displays a stunning array of high harmonies and interlocking rhythms.

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Remembering Charlie Watts, born on this day in 1941. —Ed.

Few albums have been as vilified or written off as colossal missteps as The Rolling Stones’ Their Satanic Majesties Request. There’s Taylor Swift Sings the Songs of Captain Beefheart, and Arnold Schwarzenegger Sings Barbra Streisand, but neither of these albums can hold a candle to the Stones’ 1967 answer to the Beatles’ acid-influenced Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. Their Satanic Majesties Request was quickly dismissed as a shameless attempt to keep up with the psychedelic Jones’s, and the critical blowback was so negative that the Stones promptly hopped to it and followed Satanic Majesties with Beggars Banquet, an LP so down to earth a filthy toilet graces its cover.

Aside from “She’s a Rainbow” and “2000 Light Years from Home” you’re highly unlikely to hear any of Satanic Majesties’ songs anywhere, and the Stones themselves haven’t had much good to say about it over the years. Keith Richards called it “a load of crap,” while Mick Jagger said “there’s a lot of rubbish” on it. But it has its fair share of cultists, whole heaps of them in fact, and they love it to death. And their waxing enthusiastic over the LP finally got the better of me. Just how bad could it be, after all?

Not bad at all is the short answer. Strange, far stranger than Sgt. Pepper for that matter, Their Satanic Majesties Request has more than its fair share of fine moments, along with a few dubious tunes that don’t quite make the grade. Me, I’ll take it over Sgt. Pepper any day, and I think the Stones should be commended for putting out an LP that was even more experimental than its Beatles counterpart. Mick and the boys took real chances on the LP, and if they didn’t always work, at least the Stones tried.

The album’s problems have been variously attributed to there being too many people in the studio, and there being too many hallucinogens in the studio (Mick Jagger once told me, “We were eating whole sheets of acid, just cramming them into our mouths and washing them down with brandy spiked with DMT”). Then there was the desertion of the band’s disgusted producer and manager, Andrew Loog Oldham, which left the band to produce the album themselves. Oldham’s decision to jump ship hurt; Jagger attributed the LP’s shortcomings to the lack of a producer who would say enough is enough, let’s get on with it lads.

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Utterly inspiring in their dogged perseverance while aging like a fine vino, the Mekons returned last year with yet another solid album, Horror, its dozen songs easily up to the band’s usual high standard as they steadfastly refused to stagnate. Backslide? Absolutely fucking not. As evidence, here comes Horrorble (Mekons vs Tony Maimone in Dub Conference).

As one might ascertain, a decidedly psychedelic strain of Jamaican roots is part of the method in collaboration with the veteran New York City-based drummer-producer and friend of the Mekons, Tony Maimone, formerly of Pere Ubu and numerous other concerns. This new set further invigorates a still-fresh batch of tunes while presenting alternate sonic avenues and avoiding any trite stylistic maneuvers. The album is available June 5 on vinyl, compact disc, and digital with a bonus track.

The most overtly Jamaican-tinged moment in the Mekons’ recent scheme comes at the beginning of Horror, with the beautifully sour Brit post-punk reggae-rock buoyance of “The Western Design” and its deliciously bent dubbing-out, which lands as track five on Horrorble. And it becomes clear that Jon Langford, Sally Timms, Tom Greenhalgh, Dave Trumfio, Susie Honeyman, Rico Bell, Steve Goulding, and Lu Edmonds, the current and long-established lineup of the Mekons, are disinterested in any predictable linear moves.

That’s not to say that Horrorble isn’t a fully dubbed-up affair. It’s just that the warpage is more in line with NYC or London than Kingston. The pretty carnival-esque indie pop of “Sad and Sad and Sad” and its corresponding version, brighter and bigger and revealing a timidly strange Brit-folk root, are sequenced second on both albums.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Yes celebrates the 50th anniversary of one of its most storied performances on July 17 with Live At Roosevelt Stadium, Jersey City, 17 June 1976.

The live album’s first official release arrives on the heels of the band’s new studio album, Aurora, debuting on June 12.

2CD and 3LP versions of Live At Roosevelt Stadium are available to pre-order HERE. Rhino is offering an exclusive vinyl LP edition (limited to 500) that includes a 12×12 lithograph of of new original album artwork by Roger Dean. A special Spirit of ’76 vinyl edition will also be available at select independent retailers with an insert. The album will also be available to download and stream.

On June 17, 1976, the formidable Relayer lineup of Yes—Jon Anderson, Steve Howe, Chris Squire, Alan White, and Patrick Moraz—performed in front of a capacity crowd at Roosevelt Stadium in Jersey City, NJ. The quintet was captured mid-tour during a live broadcast on New York’s WNEW-FM. While the performance has remained one of the band’s most popular bootlegs for decades, this release marks its first official appearance.

The recording finds the band at a creative peak during the “Solo Albums Tour.” Following the success of Relayer (1974), the members spent 1975 recording five individual solo projects; this 1976 tour was the first time these new arrangements were integrated into the live set.

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Celebrating Ronnie Wood on his 79th birthday. —Ed.

In 1972 French-Canadian actor Alexis Kanner approached Faces’ bassist and vocalist Ronnie Lane about composing the soundtrack for the film Mahoney’s Last Stand, which I’ve never seen but from what I’ve read about it sounds like a non-comedic Green Acres. Lane accepted and enlisted Faces guitarist Ron Wood to join the project, then recruited a lot of whizz-bang rock and roll talent as farm hands. The result is this 1972 LP, which oozes a rustic charm that more than makes up for its lack of lofty ambition. This is the sound of musicians hanging out and having fun, and producing some very likable off-the-cuff music while they’re at it.

Lane—who succumbed in 1997 to multiple sclerosis at the tragically young age of 51—was the heart (he had a huge one) and soul (he oozed the stuff) of the Faces. Rod Stewart got the attention—too much of it towards the end—but Ronnie embodied the band’s rambunctious approach to rock and roll and wrote (or co-wrote) some of the band’s most endearing and poignant songs, including “Ooh La La,” “Glad and Sorry,” and “Debris.”

And that doesn’t include the great songs he produced for the Small Faces and his wonderful 1977 collaboration with Pete Townshend, Rough Mix. As for Ron Wood, he exemplified the shambolic and always joyous spirit of the Faces as well, and I’ll argue to my dying day that he did (by far) his best work with them. He may be better remembered for his years with the Rolling Stones, but I would gladly trade it all for the jet engine guitar he plays on “Stay with Me” and his down-to-earth vocal turn on “Ooh La La.”

The motley crew who played on the sessions for the film score included the likes of Townshend, Faces keyboardist Ian McLagan, R&R saxophone legend Bobby Keys, Blind Faith and Traffic bassist Ric Grech, Rolling Stones’ road manager and pianist Ian Stewart, Faces (and later Who) drummer Kenney Jones, trumpet player Jim Price, Grease Band/Fairport Convention drummer Bruce Rowland and various other odds and sods. Conspicuous by his absence was Rod Stewart—Lane was justifiably angry at the time with Stewart’s rapidly fading interest in the Faces due to his solo success, and he was particularly galled by the fact that the Faces were increasingly being looked upon as Stewart’s backing band.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Craft Latino celebrates the 55th anniversary of Cheo Feliciano’s record-breaking solo debut, Cheo, with the album’s first US vinyl reissue in over half a century.

Co-produced and co-written by the celebrated composer Tite Curet Alonso, whose centennial falls this year, the 1971 album features Feliciano’s breakout hit, “Anacaona,” plus a handful of other salsa classics, including “Pa’ que afinquen” and “Mi triste problema.” Joining Feliciano on the album are some of the era’s most renowned musicians, including Fania Records founder Johnny Pacheco, Larry Harlow, Bobby Valentín, Louie Ramirez, and Orestes Vilató, among others.

Set for release on July 17th, just days after his 91st birthday, and available for pre-order, Cheo features all-analog (AAA) lacquers cut from the original master tapes by Dave Polster and Clint Holley at Well Made Music and is pressed on 180-gram vinyl for an exceptional listening experience. Rounding out the package is a gatefold jacket that faithfully replicates the album’s original Vaya Records cover art.

Vinyl enthusiasts can also find a limited-edition Medianoche Morada (Midnight Purple) color pressing (only 300 copies), as a stand-alone or bundled with a collectible Vaya Records T-shirt available at Fania.com. Fans can also enjoy the remastered album in both standard and hi-res audio available now on digital music platforms.

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Let’s get a few things out of the way first. The late Ray Sawyer was not Dr. Hook. He was not even the lead singer (despite his bravura vocal performance on “Cover of the Rolling Stone”). But he was the face of Dr. Hook, thanks to his trademark eye patch and cowboy hat.

I should also note that Sawyer lost his eye in a logging accident, or rather, in an automobile accident on the way to his first day on the job as a logger. Sawyer (which, ironically, means ‘person who saws wood’) never sawed wood in his life. Instead, he returned to rock ’n’ roll, which he’d given up because:

“I must have played all the clubs from Houston to Charleston, until I decided I was going insane from too much beans and music, and I gave it up. I saw a John Wayne movie and then proceeded to Portland, Oregon, to be a logger, complete with plaid shirt, caulk boots, and pike pole. On the way, my car slipped on the road, and the accident left me with the eye patch I now wear. When I recovered, I ran straight back to the beans and music and vowed, ‘Here, I’ll stay’.”

That out of the way, Dr. Hook specialized in zany songs (most of them penned by genius children’s book author Shel Silverstein, who wrote some of the weirdest and most perverted songs of his time). Dr. Hook (originally Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show) was similarly Janus-faced—the same band that gave us the polymorphous perverse “Freakin’ at the Freaker’s Ball” and doper anthem “I Got Stoned and I missed It” also gave us the parents-approved “Sylvia’s Mother” and other tradpop ballads like “When You’re in Love with a Beautiful Woman.”

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