Anita Baker

Anita Baker at the Lincoln 2.0 Festival, 2009

 Haven't posted here in six months' time, having focused on the sister blogs and my life, but the time has come to write about an artist I remember from growing up that I don't listen to or hear from often, this time being soul legend Anita Baker. Four years ago, she was able to get back her masters from Warner Music Group, where was signed to Elektra Records (transferred to sister label Atlantic in the mid-'90s when for AC/DC and Yes, it was the other way around until the parent company spun off of Time Warner in 2004 and the former moved to Sony and A&R queen Sylvia Rhone to Universal). While the dispute was a couple years ago, it took six months to settle. Warner has divested other artists this past decade since buying Parlophone from EMI. The past three years saw artists and songwriters selling their rights. Baker is setting a new precedent by getting them back. I asked the crystal ball which label would put out the remasters, and it would be Craft, the reissue label at Concord, one of the largest independents in the world, which also acquired Natalie Cole, REM, Jewel, Violent Femmes and Collective Soul from WMG. Nothing officially confirmed, of course, so more as this develops.

Tina Turner Early Solo Albums

Tina Turner acoustic performance in Manchester, 2009

 Tina Turner has entered the next life at 83.  She leaves behind a legacy of music and survival.  Many assume her 1984 breakthrough album Private Dancer is her first after leaving the ex (as stated in 1993 biopic What's Love Got to Do with It? for dramatic purposes), but she released four solo albums before that, most have never been on CD.  They are Tina Turns the Country On, Acid Queen (which she played in The Whos Tommy), Rough and Love Explosion.  These have been released by United Artists, EMI, and/or Ariola Records.  EMI bought UA by 1979.  In 1983, Turner had Australian manager Roger Davies (who also manages Cher and Olivia Newton-Johns estate) spearheading her comeback and got her signed to then-EMI subsidiary Capitol (she later transferred to then-sister labels Virgin and Parlophone) after a few years playing clubs around Europe, including behind the Iron Curtain.  It was like she never left.

I got Boris Private Dancer, Break Every Rule and Foreign Affair as they were on the list.  Yet these lost albums may have been unavailable because they may have reminded Turner of that difficult time understandably (the third one is obvious).  They could be reissued as two CDs since two albums can fit onto one CD as both official and unofficial reissues alike have done that to save money.  BMG (which used to own Ariola) bought her catalogue a couple years ago as part of a buying spree of her peers' work started by onetime colleague Bob Dylan not long before that.  It would likely be up to them, Davies and Turners estate and family if these albums ever get remastered as it's just too soon right now.

UPDATE: All four will be re-released on vinyl and CD on 15 November 2024 by Rhino/Parlophone.

Aerosmith (1973) 50th Anniversary

Courtesy Legacy Recordings/Sony Music Entertainment

By The cover art can be obtained from Columbia / SME / Capitol / UMe., Fair use, Link

 Aerosmith are about to be on their final tour (my sister might go), but without drummer Joey Kramer, who retired from the road in 2020. It's now fifty years on since their first album, and frontman Steven Tyler purposely changed his voice since they were all a right bundle of nerves being new to the studio in early days. Lead single "Dream On", which wasn't a hit until after Toys in the Attic was released, will show you (I recently discovered a cover version with the late Ronnie James Dio and Yngwie Malmsteen on amazon Music from one of those budget compilations). With AI being more than what sci-fi legend Isaac Asimov had ever imagined, it can be used to change ones voice (ex-pat Canadians Drake and the Weeknd being at the centre of AI-gate). What could be done is make Tylers voice sound like it did from 1974-80, and even enhance the others' playing due to their inexperience with a producer in those days (I'm not wholly familiar with the bands work myself). If A&R legend John David Kalodner (who had  appeared in drag in a couple of their videos in cameos and even on The Simpsons in 1991), who signed them, Peter Gabriel, Asia, and possibly Elton John (in the US and Canada) to Geffen still worked with them, he might not have allowed this, but he's a pensioner now. Aerosmith themselves would also have to approve, of course. There could be a remaster with a remix of the original album and a new one with the AI vocals. It could be done, as no one has announced an official release of anyones work with such manoeuvres just yet. It's being considered and already being done for new material. Until then, we all can just "Dream On". More as this develops.

UPDATE (14/2/26): The début album will be reissued on 20 March 2026 by Capitol/UMe, now sister to Geffen of all things. No AI, of course, but digitally remixed and remastered, previously unreleased live recording from Pauls Mall fifty-three years ago to the day of the release to boot and some outtakes. Almost like how future producer Jack Douglas later worked with John Lennon and Yoko Ono on Double Fantasy, which was one of Geffens first releases, spurred by Paul McCartneys live version of "Coming Up", #1 on Billboard, and released on Columbia in the US and Canada, only for both former colleagues to go back to Capitol themselves (Lennon posthumously), while Aerosmith covered "Come Together" in something (no pun intended) that shall remain nameless (you know the story, as John would've said). CBS distributed Geffen internationally from 1982-85. The Offspring moved their Columbia albums to Universal themselves, but these things happen, you know. Aerosmiths other albums from 1974-82 if not 1985-93 or 1997-2012 could transfer, but that has yet to be confirmed. The Capitol deal was signed several months ago, and the band have just worked with Yungblud, who moved around UMG himself, on a new EP.

Black Sabbath: Born Again - 40 Years On

Courtesy Warner Records/BMG (non US/Canada)

By The cover art can be obtained from Vertigo / Warner Bros. (US/Canada)., Fair use, Link

 It's been forty years time since Black Sabbath released one of the most distinct and controversial albums, and one of the few without Ozzy Osbourne, Ronnie James Dio, or Tony Martin.  After Dio and Vinny Appices departure in 1982, most of the original lineup sans Osbourne hired Ian Gillan late of Deep Purple and his own band to take over on vocals, but he was from another world than them and to this days, there remains mixed reaction to this album.  Producer Robin Cable Black previously worked with Genesis, Elton John and Queen.  Bev Bevan from fellow Brummies ELO (they shared management with Sabbath then) did drums on tour, and for one track, a misunderstanding on set measurements inspired a famous scene in This is Spin̈al Tap.  After the tour, Gillan was on-again off-again with Purple, while there would be a revolving door of lineups at Sabbath until 1997s Reunion.

The original Ampex master tapes were unavailable for over three decades, but they were found a couple years ago, according to Tony Iommi, and here's hoping that a remaster is available by October for the anniversary on double vinyl and CD from Rhino in North America and BMG for international.  The second disc would be of outtakes and/or live tracks.  We're still waiting for Martins era of the band on IRS Records to be reissued however, and it can take just as long, if not longer, to remix and remaster as it did to record it in the first place, as well as sorting through the red tape as it were.  There had been a deLuxe Edition in 2011, but it was from other tapes, so now the album can be given justice.  The LP can replicate the custom UK labels and sleeve with updated information (the Western Hemisphere had standard ones),  Right now, I'd be lucky to come across the original import LP in the shop again.

amazon.com

amazons Headquarters in the Seattle-Tacoma-Vancouver area

 amazon.com needs no introduction, yet they don't really really have everything that I'm looking for.  Some things aren't even almost out yet, are digital only (like Boy Georges latest solo album), or aren't even available through the megasite. For the wishlist, there used to be a feature where one could add an idea if that were the case, but not anymore.  It may not have been used enough, or they don't want you going somewhere else (close rivals Walmart are having trouble, but more because they were nicked and burgled).  I have to wait a while before adding the new Yes and solo Morten Harket releases, while Fish would rather sell his new live albums direct or (because of post-Brexit VAT) through an EU-based indie distributor (and can you blame him, given his past troubles?).  I've gotten pro-CD-Rs of Al Chantrey (né MIA Alan Williams), Alan Reed (now back in Pallas) and the late Ray Thomas (from during a Moodies hiatus), even though I was expecting real CDs of the latter two.  I can't stream Genesis' new boxed set BBC Broadcasts on amazon Music, Spotify or even the pirate site to save money buying it.

The rare Katy Perry CD I mentioned last time (née Katy Hudson) I couldn't sell there because I'd have to start a whole sellers account and have other items, which is not an option for me, which is why I brought her to another competitor, eBay.  amazon, meanwhile, recently opened a sorting office or two in my area, and I only wish they'd also open an amazon Fresh and/or Whole Foods too (more on that at the sister blog, of course).  I bought the new Rick Wakeman on amazon and found that the local place had it too, which they don't always have, yet I earn my points on Bing religiously.  I also go online if the edition I want isn't here in person.  If I can't get it with Prime, I know of a few third party sellers in the UK and EU.

Compared to most people, I don't really spend that much on amazon.  Can't really afford to.  Too easy anyway.  One can get carried away, which isn't good with the economy right now, you know.

Katy Perry (née Hudson) 2001 début

Poor quality low res snap of CD for eBay listing

 Katy Perry was one of the first artists ever profiled on the blog.  After she made it, it became known that she recorded an album that Mary Whitehouse would have liked (maybe Katys UK ex-pat fiancé Orlando Bloom has heard of the late conservative activist, who was in her final days in a care home when the album was released in 2001).  Perry may now dismiss this CD as juvenilia as it's a far cry from "Hot 'n' Cold", "Roar", "Firework", and "Hey Hey Hey" just to name a few.  This is no "Teenage Dream".  Rather "The One That Got Away"!  I'm sure she'd probably just say it'll always be a "Part of Me"!  This one is more of a "Dark Horse" (not George Harrisons, of course).  Back then, it was "By the Grace of God".  I sound like Gene Shalit!  I started this "Last Friday Night"!  I could go on all day!

Before she was Katy Perry, before American Idol, she was Katy Hudson (not to be confused with Kate Hudson), who was brought up in a strict Christian home in Santa Barbara County.  At a young age, she was signed to an indie label in Multnomah County (chosen for the location as I took the zip code from the CD), recorded in Davidson County (the epicentre of country and Christian music), and could have been the next Stacie Orrico (a CCM Britney Spears at one time, perhaps), but the label closed down after the CD came out and it sold very few copies.  Katy Hudson changed her name to Katy Perry because of the unrelated new film star at the time, and tried for several years to launch a secular career before starting over the opposite of an Amy Grant (I know this sounds more like a mere review).  Once she was a household name, word got out about this early release, which is sought after, even though it contrasts the hits she's had since 2008s One of the Boys.  A right chancer can make a few bob off this one, God willing (since He is praised on there).  The price could "Rise".  This is "Never Really Over"!

I saw Katy Hudson in the charity shop for pennies, and recognised it straight away, realising it was too good to be there, so I tried at first going to the local record shop to trade it in, but got a low-ball offer.  I get that it's a small business, and they know the story themselves, so I decided to sell it online.  Amazon wasn't feasible because I would have to had several items and pay to set up an account, so it's not on, so I turned to eBay, where some interest was there, and ultimately sold it to a fan in Clark County for much less than what others would.  He won the pools, and he's in Las Vegas, where Pezza has a residency and some Idol auditions to boot (also held in Nashville and [New] Orleans Parish).  I even told missus on Twitter that I found this from early days, even though she was a different girl back then whose initial phase is another animal like Alanis Morissette, Tiffany, and even Mr Conway Twitty, showing that we all must start off somewhere.  It is very unlikely Katy Perry will ever reissue this album herself because of just how far apart from her current career it is.  You have a better chance with early '90s Alanis and KLF at this rate.  Just something the diehards are willing to look and pay for.

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