VIA PRESS RELEASE | Varèse Sarabande Records is thrilled to announce the upcoming special release of The Running Man Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition) by GRAMMY®-winning composer Harold Faltermeyer (Beverly Hills Cop, Top Gun, Cop Out and the upcoming film Top Gun: Maverick). The Deluxe Edition version will be available digitally and released on LP for the first time on August 14, 2020. The LP version is available for pre-order today, June 15, on VareseSarabande.com.

​In the year 2019, America is a totalitarian state where the favorite television program is The Running Man—a game show in which prisoners must run to freedom to avoid a brutal death. Having been made a scapegoat by the government, an imprisoned Ben Richards (Arnold Schwarzenegger) has the opportunity to make it back to the outside again by being a contestant on the deadly show, although the twisted host, Damon Killian (Richard Dawson) has no intention of letting him escape.

The original (1987) 17-track soundtrack has been expanded to 35 tracks, which include additional music and unreleased and alternate cues. The album was remastered from the original Paramount Pictures sources. The package features original artwork, images from the film and a booklet with extensive liner notes by film music journalist Daniel Schweiger.

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“Analog has always ruled my heart, versus its respective digital counterpart. Give me an old hardbound book over a kindle, 35mm film and polaroid snaps, and the warmth of a tape machine or record player any day.”

“Having been raised on tapes and CDs, my introduction to vinyl records came later in life, around the time I was writing my first album. I grew up first listening to my mother’s CDs: Natalie Merchant, Matthew Sweet, Boys II Men, and the entire Cranberries discography played on repeat in our Baltimore home. She was pretty hip to the ’90s music scene and was a big fan of the short-lived Lilith Fair.

Naturally, my first CDs were gifted to me from her boyfriend’s mother; Fiona Apple’s Tidal and Garbage’s debut self-titled album. I imagine she walked into a Sam Goody store and asked what the kids were into these days, and I’m so grateful they handed her those albums! I still listen to them today, and they certainly continue to influence my songwriting.

When I was a teenager in Baltimore City, we had this amazing music store called Sound Garden, where my friends and I would go every Friday night. We would save up our money all week just to spend it on iced chai lattes and used CDs, to hold us over until the following weekend.

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Born in Syracuse, NY, with time spent in California and Chicago, Nicole Mitchell is a flautist, composer, bandleader, and teacher. Hailing from Houston, TX, Lisa E. Harris is an interdisciplinary artist, performer, composer, and singer of striking, often operatic, power and feeling. The new release EarthSeed is their collaboration, inspired by the works of the late, very great and remarkably prescient science-fiction novelist Octavia E. Butler, and featuring Mitchell’s long-running Black Earth Ensemble with vocalist Julian Otis in a prominent role. The results demand the listener’s attention but also offer moments of humor along with marvelous singing and playing. It’s out June 26 on 2LP, CD, and digital through FPE Records.

EarthSeed is directly inspired by Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, Octavia E. Butler’s two novels from the 1990s, those books comprising her third thematic science-fiction series (after the Patternist and Xenogenesis collections) and the late-work (she passed on February 24, 2006, a year after publishing her final standalone novel Fledgling) that underscores her literary foresight in relation to the unpredictable, stressful and at times downright unsettling nature of current events.

With this said, per Mitchell in the PR for this release, “All the words and all the text in the music are ours, they’re not Octavia’s,” that is, “except for the word EarthSeed” (the cover art is “Patternmaster,” from Krista Franklin’s 2006 artist’s book SEED (The Book of Eve)). It’s also important to note that the music was recorded in performance at the Art Institute of Chicago’s Fullerton Hall on June 22, 2017 (by commission), and that Mitchell’s Butler-inspired work spans back to her Xenogenesis Suite from 2008 and Intergalactic Beings from 2014.

FPE’s background for EarthSeed also relates how Harris discovered Butler’s writing as she worked on her opera Lilith. This was four years prior to meeting Mitchell in New Orleans while attending the New Quorum Composers’ Residency (the other composers invited were Wadada Leo Smith and Damon Locks). Upon discovering their mutual appreciation for Butler’s books, they immediately decided to create as a team a work inspired by the author.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Varèse Sarabande Records will release The Buddy Holly Story Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (Deluxe Edition), with all songs from the Academy Award®-winning film available for the first time on LP, CD, and all streaming platforms on August 21.

​The LP format will include a black vinyl record in a standard jacket with printed inner sleeve, and the CD format will include a 16-page booklet, with both packages including rare photos of the icon, courtesy of his estate and the Buddy Holly Educational Foundation. With the announcement of this exciting upcoming release, pre-order is available now on varesesarabande.com. The expanded soundtrack features 22 tracks in total, including 11 tracks not released on the original soundtrack.

The additional songs include many performances that were in the film, such as “That’ll Be the Day,” “Mockingbird Hill,” and “Tennessee Waltz” performed by Gary Busey (as Buddy Holly), “Chantilly Lace” performed by Gailard Sartain (as the Big Bopper), and “You Send Me” performed by Paul Mooney (as Sam Cooke).

Buddy Holly is one of the most revered musicians in rock and roll history, and The Buddy Holly Story is his definitive legacy film. The project earned three Oscar® nominations, including “Best Actor” for prolific character actor Gary Busey, who has appeared in over 150 films, including Lethal Weapon and Point Break.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Airto’s second album, and second and last release for the Buddah label, brought back largely the same crew that appeared on his debut record Natural Feelings (also reissued by Real Gone): vocalist (and wife) Flora Purim, composer and multi-instrumentalist Hermeto Pascoal, and bassist Ron Carter, with contributions from Dom Um Ramão (who later replaced Airto in Weather Report) and Severino De Oliveira a.k.a. Sivuca.

​Given Airto’s connections to Miles Davis, Weather Report, and Return to Forever, Seeds on the Ground could easily get lumped into the jazz fusion category. But that would be a mistake. This totally unclassifiable (and, by the way, exceedingly rare) album was no mere blend of rock and jazz influences. Instead, Seeds on the Ground was truly a fusion, an ecstatic melding of bossa nova, psychedelic rock, Brazilian folk, Latin jazz, free jazz, and “world music.” If that sounds a bit calculated or intimidating, it’s not; what makes this album so compelling is how organic and intimate it all sounds.

Airto played with probably the three most legendary fusion groups in jazz history, and later released a bunch of albums, many for the CTI label. But it would be hard not to label this beautiful record as his crowning achievement. Our proud Real Gone reissue features the original gatefold cover art, and comes in an ocean blue vinyl pressing limited to 1,000 copies.

“I grew up in the ‘60s and ‘70s in a large, working class Irish family in south London—10 kids plus Mum and Dad—and there was fabulous music coming out of every room and shiny black vinyl 45s, EPs, and LPs everywhere in our noisy house.”

“My sisters loved great pop music like The Beatles, Stones, soul and reggae and my older brothers ‘digged’ ‘heavier’ stuff…Dylan, Cream, Hendrix, and there was always plenty of traditional Irish music, rock & roll and Johnny Cash around. I was fascinated by vinyl as a child and studied the labels for more information and noticed the same RGM Productions credit on 3 great records—‘Telstar’ The Tornadoes, ‘Johnny Remember Me’ John Leyton, and ‘Have I The Right’ The Honeycombs.

I later on discovered that RGM meant Robert George Meek, the true name of sonic genius, maverick producer Joe Meek. I guess even at an early age I was attracted to outsiders. Psychedelic pop like ‘Strawberry Fields Forever,’ Traffic’s ‘Hole In My Shoe,’ and ‘Lazy Sunday’ Small Faces caught my attention—there’s a dreamy innocence that kids love and it still has the power to take you to an alternate universe. Glam rock was the omnipresent soundtrack to my teenage years and Roxy Music’s debut ‘Virginia Plain’ the very first 45 I ever bought.

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As they were the first all-female rock band to release an LP on a major label, you might be surprised that Fanny isn’t a household name, especially as they were a solid four-piece who in their first recording incarnation cut four albums for the Warner Brothers subsidiary Reprise. But the reality is that Fanny was terribly underappreciated during their initial existence and long since. It was an unfortunate situation, directly related to sexism while they were extant, though the subsequent lack of fervent cult following is a bit more complex. The best place to begin absorbing this worthy outfit’s story is at the beginning, as their self-titled debut from 1970 is freshly reissued June 26 on white vinyl by Real Gone Music.

Let’s be clear; Fanny do have a fanbase, one big enough but also niche enough that Rhino Handmade released the 4CD box set First Time In A Long Time: The Reprise Recordings back in 2002 in a limited edition of 5,000 copies. Indeed, Fanny’s history isn’t difficult to get acquainted with, and the same is true of their music as it’s been added to a handful of streaming sites. They even have a well-designed and maintained website, fannyrocks.com.

As Fanny’s background encourages a deep dive into how it all transpired, we’ll attempt a condensed version here and then proceed to engage with the contents of their debut. Sisters June and Jean Millington, California residents who were born in the Philippines, played first in the Svelts and then joined Wild Honey alongside Alice de Buhr. June played guitar, Jean bass, and Alice drums. Producer Richard Perry’s secretary caught them live and after hipping her boss, they were signed sans audition, with pianist Nickey Barclay added thereafter. Fanny was born.

Reprise reportedly entered into this situation expecting a novelty but got a surplus of talent. The band not only played their instruments with considerable skill and élan (unlike the prior norm of girl-group singers getting backed-up by studio and touring pros) but wrote their own high quality material, as well. All four sang, and that they were unusually astute interpreters of others’ compositions was the icing on the cake.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | The days of COVID have everyone yearning for a bit of fun, lots of sun, and dreaming of summers past. Because suntans fade and stay-at-home orders can’t last forever, Morrison Hotel Gallery invites patrons to ride the wave and relish in memories of summertimes yore with its latest online exhibition, Endless Summer, opening June 20th. The exhibition will be sponsored by Sports Illustrated – a magazine dedicated to the highest level of sports photography, and Volcom, the skate, surf, and swimwear giant brand that encourages its wearers to creatively and endlessly seek elevation.

​Dreaming in shades of cool, this collection of fine art imagery takes a sweeping look at the photographic works of Henry Diltz, Guy Webster, Lynn Goldsmith, Pattie Boyd, and Norman Seeff, among others. Taking its title from Bruce Brown’s 1966 surf camp classic, Endless Summer is a love letter to sun-washed phenomena and and all that looms just beneath its crystalline surface. The lineup of images in this collection are so hot, they’ll have everyone reaching for a cold drink and slathering on the sunscreen. From blue waters to muscle cars, Endless Summer features a series of music and onscreen legends at play – and sometimes at work – in a sultry summertime setting.

Fans will find moments that encapsulate the essence of quiet relaxation, as in Seef’s free-flowing shot of Joni Mitchell drifting in the deep depths of blue pool waters and a legendary black and white photo of Keith Richards (snapped by Michael Cooper) floating on his back, arms outstretched, in the pool at Villa Nellcôte.

Endless Summer also captures the sheer joy of letting loose and hanging out with friends. The Mamas and the Papas frolic in a pool underneath an impromptu hat fountain in one Guy Webster shot, while Charles Trainer was ready with his camera when The Beatles made a splash in Miami Beach while there for their 1964 performance on The Ed Sullivan Show. That TV appearance wasn’t the only history-making music event to take place in the heat of summer; the exhibition also revisits the crowds and sizzling performances of Woodstock in the summer of ’69.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | “Without his music, I wouldn’t be here because he’s the guy that turned me on to the whole Stax sound and the R&B sound … He’s written so many great songs!” —Bruce Springsteen

​Known for the soul classics “Knock on Wood,” “634-5789,” “Raise Your Hand,” “Big Bird,” and “I’ve Never Found a Girl (To Love Me Like You Do),” among others, Eddie Floyd has been a soul legend for more than 60 years. His professional singing career began in Detroit in the 1950s, when he co-founded the Falcons, considered by many the first soul group. A solo artist and songwriter for Memphis’s famed Stax Records from 1966 until 1975, Floyd has subsequently been the singer for the Blues Brothers Band and for Bill Wyman’s Rhythm Kings, while continuing to perform and record solo.

In Knock! Knock! Knock! On Wood, Floyd recounts how a three-year stint in an Alabama reform school shaped his young life; recalls the early years of R&B in Detroit alongside future Motown and Stax legends; discusses the songwriting sessions with Steve Cropper and Booker T. Jones that produced his biggest hits; addresses his complicated lifelong relationship with the often-unpredictable Wilson Pickett; shares his memories of friend Otis Redding; reveals his unlikely involvement in the rise of Southern rock darlings Lynyrd Skynyrd; and offers an insider perspective on the tragic downfall of Stax Records.

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VIA PRESS RELEASE | Errol Dunkley was an early reggae star and one of the youngest, recording his first side (“My Queen”) at the age of 12 for Prince Buster in 1964 and scoring his first hit (“You’re Gonna Need Me”) in 1967. Later, he became a key performer in the ‘70s Brit-Reggae scene, just missing the Top Ten in 1978 with his remake of John Holt’s “OK Fred.”

​Helmed by groundbreaking producer Sylvia Pottenger, Darling Ooh! is actually his 1972 debut album, but like a lot of records that came out on small Jamaican imprints that later got swallowed into the mammoth Trojan label, its history is complicated; this record came out on the Gay Feet label under the title Presenting Errol Dunkley and also on the Trojan imprint Attack the same year as Darling Ooh! with different art and an expanded track listing (and, just to make things more confusing, a 1979 Trojan reissue had the Gay Feet track listing and the Attack artwork).

Real Gone’s reissue reproduces the 1972 Attack release with its fetching cover art and expanded track listing (featuring the first appearance of the hit “A Little Way Different”); even better, we ponied up for a new remastering (by Mike Milchner at SonicVision) so this record sounds better than it ever has. Limited “root beer” vinyl pressing limited to 1,000 copies, a classic roots-reggae release!

Estevan Oriol is no ordinary photographer. His humble beginnings in music, hard-work ethic, and unmatched integrity set him apart from others and allowed him opportunities that most might never dream of. Thirty years later, he’s become a master of his craft while working with legendary figures such as Snoop Dogg, Al Pacino, Robert DeNiro, and so many others in the music and film industries.

In this interview, we’ll dig deep with an amazing artist who has truly pushed through boundaries to become who many believe is the best music and street photographer on the planet today.

How did you begin your career in music?

Well, I was friends with DJ Muggs back in ‘89. I met him from working the doors of a lot of the clubs in LA, I was a doorman handling the VIP lists. I met a lot of bands that way. It was a lot different scene than it is today. Back then, it was kind of like a family. You’d even be like, “Okay, man. I’ll see you Thursday night at this club.” So, people were a lot cooler back then—they were a lot more in tune with each other.

In ’92, Muggs was like, “Hey, I’m putting out this new group and I want to have you work for us.” And I was like, “Cool.” Because I had already been to a couple shows with Cypress Hill, so I thought he was going to hook me up with a job with them. And he goes, “It’s for these new white boys that are going to be rapping.” And at that time, there was 3rd Bass and Vanilla Ice, so I was like, “Man, which one is it going to be? I’m hoping it’s more of the 3rd Bass style than Vanilla Ice.” He goes, “You know, it’s our homie Everlast.” And I go, “Oh, okay cool.” He then proceeds to drop the name House of Pain and he played “Jump Around” for me. I was like, “Oh, shit.” You could tell instantly that was a hit.

That is how it all started. Once I got in touch with them, I was hired as their tour manager and ended up going out with them on the promo tours, on the college tours, and stuff like that. That’s what we called working a record back then. It was a way different scene, and I was just getting my expenses paid for including flights, hotel rooms, and food money, etc. The guys would take $300 bucks each show and give me $100 bucks. So, sometimes we’d do two, three shows in a day. You do a couple shows a week, and you’re doing pretty good. So, I was like, “Man. This is a cool thing. It’s paying off.”

Shortly thereafter, we went on tour with the Beastie Boys and we got kicked off of that tour because the tour manager of the Beasties gave us tickets for Everlast’s mom in the grass area at the arena (which is the farthest away you could be from the stage). Everlast felt disrespected that the guy just gave us the worst seats in the house for our guests. He just kind of blew up on the guy and gave him a piece of his mind. The next day we were kicked off that tour and that happened to be a blessing in disguise.

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You’ve got to love a band with a proofreader. (La Düsseldorf has one and he’s listed on the credits!) Lord knows Slade could have used one. But unlike we English-speaking types, your Germans are a punctilious people and good spelling is important to them, probably because they regularly gutteral up words like Unabhaengigkeitserklaerungen, which if I understand correctly means cow.

But enough with the spelling bee. La Düsseldorf were a trio of art-rocking sauerbraten eaters who climbed from the wreckage of Neu! when that band exploded like a V-2 in 1975. Its embers included Kraftwerk/Neu! multi-instrumentalist Klaus Dinger and Neu! collaborators Thomas Dinger and Hans Lampe, and boy did they like to get their drone on.

On their 1976 eponymous debut, La Düsseldorf split the difference between Neu!’s trademark motorik beat and Bowie/Eno atmospherics, but spiced things up so you could dance to their songs in Berlin discotheques with frosty Helgas in black leather and frosty Ernsts in black leather and frosty dachshunds in black leather if that’s your scene.

The title track is the standout. “ La Düsseldorf” is the band’s equivalent of Neu!’s “Hallogallo”–you get the same I can’t drive 88–in kilometers that is–motorik beat and a cool keyboard drone, but unlike “Hallogallo” you also get explosions, Who-sized power chords, scat singing, piano plonk, soccer chants, what sounds to me like the banjo playing kid in Deliverance, screaming crowds, and enough other stuff to build a Teufelberg with.

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