The 31-track double-disc compilation Twentyears (Aircheology-Parlophone-Rhino) is a splendid collection celebrating the work of inventive French duo Air (Nicolas Godin and Jean-Beno"t Dunckel). Their 1998 debut album Moon Safari, which revisited retro pop with flair, had an immediate impact. The first disc of the set includes "hand-picked" selections from the pair's studio discs ("Sexy Boy," "Cherry Blossom Girl"). The second disc features more than a dozen unreleased and rare tunes.
Most LGBT folks are probably more familiar with Rufus Wainwright, his sister Martha, or his late mother Kate McGarrigle than they are with his father Loudon Wainwright III. But that doesn't mean Loudon doesn't deserve his due. As a singer and songwriter, Wainwright excelled at both. The 24-track compilation The Atlantic Years (Real Gone Music) combines Wainwright's first and second albums (1970 eponymous debut, 1971 follow-up Album II ) and adds a previously unreleased bonus track ("Drinking Song"). Wainwright's trademark humor is in evidence along with his serious side, on "Old Friend," "School Days," "Nice Jewish Girls," "Movies Are a Mother to Me," and "Glad To See You Got Religion."
After years perfecting the surf sound, The Beach Boys, led by tortured genius Brian Wilson, created one of the most innovative pop masterpieces of the 1960s with Pet Sounds (Capitol-UMe), featuring classics "Wouldn't It Be Nice," "Sloop John B," "Don't Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)" and "God Only Knows." To commemorate last year's 50th anniversary of Pet Sounds (go ahead, take a moment to absorb that) the groundbreaking recording has been reissued in a five-disc set (four CDs, one Blu-ray Audio) wrapped up in a hardbound book (complete with fuzzy goat and lettering) containing copious notes, photos, and lyrics. Disc one features the original album in mono and stereo, and additional material. Discs two & three contain 35 tracks listed as "The Pet Sounds Sessions," and more than a dozen alternate versions. The Blu-ray Pure Audio Disc contains the whole of Pet Sounds in 5.1 Surround Sound, mono, stereo and stereo instrumental.
At the forefront of the new romantic movement of the early 1980s (see early Spandau Ballet), Adam and the Ants incorporated fashion (pirate gear, anyone?) into the irresistible music on its 1980 debut, Kings of the Wild Frontier (Columbia-Legacy), newly reissued in an expanded two-CD deluxe edition. Led by gorgeous front-man Adam Ant (aka Stuart Leslie Goddard), the band knew the value of a marketable image and an alluring beat, as you can hear on the excellent first two songs, "Dog Eat Dog" and "Antmusic," the title track and "Don't Be Square (Be There)," which features the anthemic call, "Antmusic for sex people! Sex people for antmusic!" Disc one features the original album with seven bonus cuts. The second, a live disc recorded at Park West in Chicago in 1981, includes three more bonus tracks.
Gay journalist James Gavin is among the contributors to the liner notes for Live at Rosy's (Resonance), the previously unreleased 1978 double-disc live recording by "the divine one," Sarah Vaughan. Performing with her trio Carl Schroeder, Walter Booker and Jimmy Cobb, Vaughan's sense of humor and delightful personality come through, as does her distinctive performance style. Brava, diva!