LOS ANGELES – Warner Music Group (WMG) continues to rollout new titles in their recently launched SINGLE NOTES line of short form, digital-only books about music and pop culture. This week sees another release from the Rhino imprint with “A Wizard, A True Star: The Unusual Career Of Todd Rundgren” by David Nichols, which is available now as a digital download starting at $1.99 on the iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle store.

“A Wizard, A True Star: The Unusual Career Of Todd Rundgren” takes a closer look at a true musical enigma. Author Nichols examines how Rundgren traveled so far from the mainstream while simultaneously interacting with that same mainstream in ways interchangeably valid and inexplicably ham-fisted.

Nichols is the co-author of Pop Life, a memoir of time spent working on pop magazines in the mid-1980s. His forthcoming book on the first 25 years of Australian pop music, Dig, will be published later this year by Verse Chorus Press.

This release is the tenth release in the Single Notes line since its launch in June. Other ebooks in the line examine Beastie Boys, Chic, Duran Duran, Grateful Dead, Rick James, The Planets, Ramones, and The Stooges. Details can be found at www.rhino.com/singlenotes.

LOS ANGELES – The Grateful Dead’s upcoming limited edition boxed set Spring 1990, a Dead.net exclusive of 9000 units, will surely be sold out in short order but fans will still have a chance to wrap their ears around highlights from what many Dead Heads consider to be the group’s last great tour with the release of SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT.

The two-disc collection features 20 live performances hand-picked from five shows by David Lemieux, the band’s archivist and the collection’s producer. The compilation will be available September 18 at all retail locations, as well as Dead.net, for $19.98 (CD) and $13.99 (digital).

The two-disc set is not only a showcase for the best of the boxed set’s music, but also its original artwork, which was created by New York artist Wes Lang. A lifelong Dead Head, his elaborate drawings can be seen throughout the liner notes as well as on the cover, which features an ornate Indian skull headdress. Lemieux penned the compilation’s liner notes, which provide background about the selected performances.

For those familiar with the Grateful Dead’s glorious live performance history, the spring 1990 tour represents an important zenith, one fully equal to the golden ages of Europe ’72 and spring ’77. During this truly epic three-week spring fling, the band played as good as it ever had, with energy, sophistication and joy.

Recorded during the Grateful Dead’s 25-year anniversary, the band – Jerry Garcia, Mickey Hart, Bill Kreutzmann, Phil Lesh, Brent Mydland, and Bob Weir – played as though it was on a mission to prove something. The pieces just fell into place that spring – impassioned vocals, the Brent/Jerry mind-meld, the MIDI expansion of the band’s sonic vocabulary, and a bunch of new tunes and choice revivals.

Despite the space limitations inherent in a two-disc set, SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT vividly reflects the diversity of songs played during this tour. It spotlights newer material (“West L.A. Fadeaway” and “Blow Away”), classics (“Beat It On Down The Line” and “Morning Dew”), rarities (“Easy To Love You” and “Attics Of My Life”), epic jams (“Scarlet Begonias” > “Estimated Prophet”), and choice covers with Sam Cooke’s “Let The Good Times Roll” and the Rolling Stones’ “The Last Time.”

The powerful and revealing sound heard throughout the collection is the result of work done by the band’s longtime audio engineer John Cutler, who originally recorded the shows, and Jeffrey Norman, who mastered each show to HDCD specs.

SPRING ’90: SO GLAD YOU MADE IT
Track Listing

Disc One
1. “Let The Good Times Roll”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
2. “Feel Like A Stranger” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
3. “West L.A. Fadeaway” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
4. “Easy To Love You” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
5. “Beat It On Down The Line” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
6. “Loser” — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/24/90)
7. “It’s All Over Now”> — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
8. “Jack-A-Roe” — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
9. “The Last Time” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
10. “Bird Song” — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
11. “Blow Away” — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)

Disc Two
1. “Samson And Delilah” — Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, Ontario, Canada (3/22/90)
2. “Scarlet Begonias”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
3. “Estimated Prophet”> — Capital Center, Landover, MD (3/16/90)
4. “Playing In The Band”> — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
5. “Eyes Of The World” — Civic Center, Hartford, CT (3/19/90)
6. “Gimme Some Lovin’”> — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/26/90)
7. “Morning Dew” — Knickerbocker Arena, Albany NY (3/26/90)
8. “Not Fade Away” — Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/30/90)
9. “Attics Of My Life” — Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY (3/30/90)

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LOS ANGELES – The Doors supplied plenty of post-Independence Day fireworks on July 5, 1968 when the legendary quartet played the Hollywood Bowl, a concert that is considered to be the band’s finest on film. For the first time, the film from the historic performance has been painstakingly restored using the original camera negatives and the audio has been remixed and mastered from original multi-tracks by the group’s engineer Bruce Botnick. This new restoration offers a stunning visual upgrade from earlier versions and will give fans the closest experience to being there live along side Jim Morrison, John Densmore, Robby Krieger and Ray Manzarek, who opined, “You can hear it as if you were at the Hollywood Bowl, on stage with us.”

LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 will include three previously unreleased tracks from the performance. Technical issues with the recording of “Hello, I Love You,” “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat),” and “Spanish Caravan” prevented them from being released in the past. Now, through meticulous restoration of the audio, all three will be included, marking the first time the concert has been available in its entirety.

LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68 – the definitive version of this concert – is coming October 23 in several formats. Eagle Rock Entertainment will present the concert on Blu-Ray ($19.98), DVD ($14.98), and digital video ($12.99). Rhino will release the remixed audio for the entire concert on CD ($18.98), digital audio ($11.99) and double-LP ($34.98).

The DVD, Blu-Ray and digital video each feature a 16x9 high-definition digital transfer with both a stereo and 5.1 audio soundtrack as well as over an hour of bonus material. Included in the additional content are “Echoes From The Bowl,” The Doors’ route to the Hollywood Bowl; “You Had To Be There,” memories of The Doors’ performance at the Bowl; “Reworking The Doors,” an in-depth look at how the film was restored; and three bonus performances: “Wild Child” from The Smothers Brothers Show in 1968, “Light My Fire” from The Jonathan Winters Show in December 1967 and a version of Van Morrison’s “Gloria” with specially created visuals.

Jeff Jampol, Doors manager and producer of the film said “The Doors’ live performances were a shamanistic journey into dark rock and roll psychedelic theater – a swirling mixture of rock ‘n’ roll heat, poetry, danger, drama and unbridled musical virtuosity. Captured at the height of The Doors’ magical powers, in one of the world’s greatest venues, this brand new restoration, edit and mix, corny as it may sound, made me fall in love a hundred times, all over again.”

Geoff Kempin, executive producer for Eagle Rock said “The Doors were one of THE most incredible live bands ever – we wanted to apply the top technology so that everyone can fully appreciate the phenomenon of The Doors captured at their height on 5 July 1968”.

LIVE AT THE BOWL ’68
Track Listing

1. Show Start/Intro
2. “When The Music’s Over”
3. “Alabama Song (Whisky Bar)”
4. “Back Door Man”
5. “Five To One”
6. “Back Door Man” (Reprise)
7. “The WASP (Texas Radio And The Big Beat)”
8. “Hello, I Love You”
9. “Moonlight Drive”
10. “Horse Latitudes”
11. “A Little Game”
12. “The Hill Dwellers”
13. “Spanish Caravan”
14. Hey, What Would You Guys Like To Hear?
15. “Wake Up!”
16. "Light My Fire"
17. Light My Fire (Segue)
18. “The Unknown Soldier”
19. The End (Segue)
20. “The End”

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LOS ANGELES – The Brooklyn Brothers (Ryan O’Nan and Michael Weston) will blur the line between fiction and reality this September as they star in Brooklyn Brothers Beat The Best — a new film about the heartbreaks and joys of making music — and also release their self-titled debut album and launch their first ever tour before the film’s September premiere.

Released on ATCO, an imprint of Rhino Entertainment, BROOKLYN BROTHERS: THE ALBUM features the band’s “The Shins meet Sesame Street” sound on ten tracks and will be available nationwide on September 18.

Presented by Oscilloscope Laboratories, Brooklyn Brothers Beat the Best will debut in select theaters on September 21 and will be available On Demand and digital platforms in over 40 million homes nationwide on September 25th. O’Nan, who wrote and directed the film, Weston and Arielle Kebbel star in this offbeat coming-of-age tale about two lo-fi musicians who chase their musical dreams on a cross-country road trip and discover their unique sound using children’s instruments backed by the beat of a cheap Casio keyboard. The film was produced by Jason Michael Berman and Kwesi Collisson.
O’Nan says: “I wanted to make a film about music. About chasing a dream to the edge of its extinction and what an unhealthy, beautiful, terrifying journey that can be. And also what amazing potential for hope can come out of pouring yourself into something you love, regardless of the outcome.”

O’Nan wrote a majority of the songs on BROOKLYN BROTHERS with additional songs written by Brendan Leach and Keith Freudenberger, who helped inspire the musical style at the center of the film.
Several songs from the album appear in the film, such as “Come On Girl,” “278 (Airport)” and “Someday.” Other tracks are new versions of songs from the film (“Faster Than Aeroplanes,” “Hey Captain”), as well as completely new songs that were recorded after the film ended (“Why Don’t You Cry About It,” “Bravery I Can’t Brave”).

To support the album, the Brooklyn Brothers will play shows in New York City, Los Angeles, Philadelphia, Portland and Seattle in advance of the film premiering in those markets. Tour dates and venues will be announced in the coming weeks.

In addition to the duo’s self-titled debut, ATCO will also release the film’s soundtrack on September 18. Along with several songs that appear on the duo’s debut, the album also features other songs heard in the film, as well as music from Rob Simonsen’s score.

More info can be found at:
www.brooklynbrothersmovie.com
www.facebook.com/bkbrosmovie

BROOKLYN BROTHERS: THE ALBUM
Track Listing

1. “Come On Girl”
2. “278 (Airport)”
3. “Hey Captain”
4. “No One Left Alive”
5. “Someday”
6. “Faster Than Aeroplanes”
7. “Why Don’t You Cry About It”
8. “Julianne”
9. “Deep Green Sea”
10. “Bravery I Can’t Brave”

BROOKLYN BROTHERS BEAT THE BEST: MUSIC FROM THE MOTION PICTURE
Track Listing

1. “Bathroom Before Show” - Rob Simonsen
2. “Dreams” - Ryan O’Nan & Jason Ritter
3. “No One Left Alive” - Ryan O’Nan
4. “Willie Was A Mongoose” - Ryan O’Nan
5. “Moose In The Park” - Rob Simonsen
6. “278 (Airport)” - Brooklyn Brothers
7. “Julianne” - Brooklyn Brothers
8. “Someday” - Brooklyn Brothers
9. “That’s Enough, That’s Enough” - Katie Costello
10. “Come On Girl” - Brooklyn Brothers
11. “Alex Goes Home” - Rob Simonsen
12. “Are You Afraid?” - Ryan O’Nan & Jake Miller
13. “Deep Green Sea” - Brooklyn Brothers
14. “Faster Than Aeroplanes” - Charlie Hewson
15. “Hey Captain” - The Defibulators
16. “Into The Sunset” - Rob Simonsen

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