LOS ANGELES – In the glorious arc of the Grateful Dead’s 30-year career, the spring 1990 tour was one of the all-time highest peaks, 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.

On September 1, Dead.net will begin shipping SPRING 1990, an 18-disc boxed set that spotlights six complete shows (one from each city visited on the tour) from this historic outing which is considered by many Dead Heads to be the group’s last great tour. The collection – limited to 9,000 individually numbered copies – is currently available for pre-order exclusively from Dead.net for $199.98.

In addition to the music, SPRING 1990 provides a completely immersive experience for fans that recalls telling details from the tour through replica memorabilia including ticket stubs and backstage passes to all six shows, a tour laminate, a 1990 Dead press photo, the 25th anniversary tour program from the era, and even copies of letters sent out with mail order tickets that included a note from the band and local hotel information.

The centerpiece of the set’s unique box is original artwork by New York artist Wes Lang, a lifelong Dead Head. Lang designed an elaborate collage featuring dozens of Dead-inspired drawings which are dispersed throughout the package, including an ornate Indian skull headdress that serves as the cover image. Lang’s single collage is also reproduced in its entirety in the box as a fold-out poster so fans can see the full scope of the work. A 60-page, hardcover book with high-quality, Smyth-sewn binding is also included and features tour photos by Jim Anderson and Michael Laurentus and essays by the Dead’s longtime publicist Dennis McNally, who accompanied the band on the tour, and notable Dead Head Blair Jackson.

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.

Indeed, a major strength of this box is its sheer variety, 80 unique song titles in all. To put that into perspective, the band only played 58 unique songs during all 22 shows of its legendary Europe ’72 tour. SPRING 1990 mixes newer material like “Touch Of Grey,” “Picasso Moon,” “West L.A. Fadeaway,” “Blow Away,” “Victim Or The Crime” and “Hell In A Bucket” with classics like “Beat It On Down The Line,” “Morning Dew,” “Dire Wolf,” and “Brokedown Palace,” plus superlative jams “China Cat Sunflower” > “I Know You Rider” and “Help On The Way” > “Slipknot!” > “Franklin’s Tower.”

Among the rare gems: the first performance of “Black-Throated Wind” in 16 years and almost 1,000 shows, “Easy To Love You,” “Dupree’s Diamond Blues,” the last performances of “Built To Last” and “Death Don’t Have No Mercy,” plus covers of The Rolling Stone’s “The Last Time,” The Band’s “The Weight” and the Beatles’ “Hey Jude.”

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.

Unlike last year’s massive Europe ’72 set, SPRING 1990 will only be issued as a limited edition boxed set and not as a “Music Only” edition. These shows will not be released as individual CD releases either. In short, this box is the only time these shows will be available on disc. Similarly to Europe ’72, there will be a two-disc set released on September 18 that collects highlights from the box titled Spring 1990: So Glad You Made It. An official track listing will be announced later this month.

Because the band was playing at such a high level consistently during this tour, selecting which concerts to include in SPRING 1990 was a challenge, explains Dead archivist David Lemieux. “The music is so good every night that it could very well be six completely different shows and still be as strong a box.” He adds: “The hope is to eventually do a part two.”

SPRING 1990
Featured Concerts

3/16/90 Capital Center, Landover, MD
3/19/90 Civic Center, Hartford, CT
3/22/90 Copps Coliseum, Hamilton, ON, Canada
3/26/90 Knickerbocker Arena, Albany, NY
3/30/90 Nassau Coliseum, Uniondale, NY
4/2/90 The Omni, Atlanta, GA

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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 “When The Wall Of Sound Met The New York Underground: The Ramones, Phil Spector And End Of The Century” by Frank Meyer, which is available now as a digital download starting at $1.99 on the iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle store.

“When The Wall Of Sound Met The New York Underground: The Ramones, Phil Spector And End Of The Century” explores the collaboration between two rock legends. New York punk trendsetters The Ramones had spent years cranking out influential albums that failed to set the charts on fire, so it was decided they should team with legendary ‘60s producer Phil Spector to make that elusive hit album that would take them to the top. But like most things in the world of The Ramones, things didn’t quite work out the way they planned. Guns, drugs, affairs, death, mannequins and madness ensued as the band attempted to fuse their style with the work of an esteemed madman. All the while the band was shooting the film Rock ‘n’ Roll High School and burning the candle at both ends. The result is the misunderstood Ramones classic, End of the Century.

The ebook was penned by Frank Meyer, who co-wrote On the Road With The Ramones as well as liner notes for five Ramones reissues. He is also frontman of Sweet Justice and The Streetwalkin’ Cheetahs.

Click here for a video of Frank Meyer discussing his ebook: https://youtu.be/eV6Zju0cpPM

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

LOS ANGELES – Earlier this year, Rhino unveiled the 20th Anniversary Edition of Pantera’s Vulgar Display of Power, which featured the debut of the incendiary lost track “Piss.” Following up on Vulgar’s success, Rhino continues to honor Pantera’s legacy as one of metal’s most influential bands by offering the Texas quartet’s final three releases on 180-gram vinyl.

Presented in gatefold jackets, THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL, OFFICIAL LIVE: 101 PROOF and REINVENTING THE STEEL will be available July 24 from retail outlets, including www.pantera.com and www.rhino.com. The first two albums are double LPs and available for a suggested price of $24.98 each, while STEEL will be issued as a single LP for $17.98.

This vinyl release of TRENDKILL is different from an earlier version that was issued as a single LP without the track “Suicide Note Pt. I.” To include the song for this new release and ensure ultimate sound quality, Rhino expanded the album to a double LP.

Recorded over four years (1996-2000), these two studio albums and live collection represent the final three releases from Pantera, singer Philip Anselmo, guitarist “Dimebag” Darrell Abbott, bassist Rex Brown and drummer Vinnie Paul.

The follow-up to the classic Far Beyond Driven, THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL is the group’s fourth platinum album, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard charts. It yielded three singles, “Drag The Waters,” “Suicide Note Pt. I” and “Floods,” the latter an epic track that features one of Dimebag’s defining guitar solos.

The following year, the band returned with its first live album, the gold-certified OFFICIAL LIVE: 101 PROOF. Recorded during the tour for Trendkill, the collection captures the group at the peak of its live prowess as it grinds and grooves through many of its greatest songs, like “Walk,” “Cowboys From Hell” and “Cemetery Gates,” as well as “Dom/Hollow,” which combines the tracks “Domination” and “Hollow.” Along with the live recordings, the release also includes two studio recordings, “Where You Come From” and “I Can’t Hide.”

The group’s final studio album, REINVENTING THE STEEL was certified gold, peaking at number 4 on the Billboard charts. Along with the singles “Revolution Is My Name” and “I’ll Cast A Shadow,” the album’s other standout tracks include “Death Rattle” and “Goddamn Electric,” which features a guest guitar solo by Slayer’s Kerry King.

THE GREAT SOUTHERN TRENDKILL
Side One
1. “The Great Southern Trendkill”
2. “War Nerve”
3. “Drag The Waters”

Side Two
1. “10’s”
2. “13 Steps To Nowhere”
3. “Suicide Note Pt. I”
4. “Suicide Note Pt. II”

Side Three
1. “Living Through Me (Hell’s Wrath)”
2. “Floods”

Side Four
1. “The Underground In America”
2. “(Reprise) Sandblasted Skin”

OFFICIAL LIVE: 101 PROOF
Side One
1. “New Level”
2. “Walk”
3. “Becoming”
4. “5 Minutes Alone”

Side Two
1. “Sandblasted Skin”
2. “Suicide Note Pt. 2”
3. “War Nerve”
4. “This Love”

Side Three
1. “Dom/Hollow”
2. “I’m Broken”
3. “Cowboys From Hell”
4. “Cemetery Gates”

Side Four
1. “Strength Beyond Strength”
2. “Hostile”
3. “Where You Come From”*
4. “I Can’t Hide”*

REINVENTING THE STEEL
Side One
1. “Hellbound”
2. “Goddamn Electric”
3. “Yesterday Don’t Mean Shit”
4. “You’ve Got To Belong To It”
5. “Revolution Is My Name”

Side Two
1. “Death Rattle”
2. “We’ll Grind That Axe For A Long Time”
3. “Uplift”
4. “It Makes Them Disappear”
5. “I’ll Cast A Shadow”

*Studio Recording May ’97

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LOS ANGELES – David Sanborn stands as one of the world’s most successful crossover artists. Playing with unflinching conviction and using his alto saxophone like a singer uses their voice, Sanborn’s instantly recognizable mix of jazz, R&B and pop has earned six Grammy® Awards and nine gold and platinum albums.

Rhino celebrates Sanborn’s first two decades as an artist with THEN AGAIN: THE DAVID SANBORN ANTHOLOGY. This two-disc retrospective, which features 29 songs chosen by Sanborn, will be available July 31 digitally ($14.99) and on CD ($19.98). Before its official release, the collection will be available from www.davidsanborn.com as well as at upcoming performances on Sanborn’s extensive summer tour (see itinerary below).

Spanning the mid-’70s to the mid-’90s, THEN AGAIN illustrates the graceful evolution of Sanborn’s ability to bring divergent genres into an original marriage of his own making. “The common denominator,” according to David Ritz’s liner notes, “is the integrity of the song.”

The first disc progresses chronologically, starting with “The Whisperer” from Sanborn’s 1975 debut Taking Off before concluding with “Missing You” from 1996’s Songs From The Night Before. Among the other selections featured on the opening disc are “The Dream” and the Grammy-winning “Chicago Song,” two tracks from 1987’s A Change Of Heart, a standout album from Sanborn’s catalog celebrating its 25th anniversary this year.

For the second disc, Sanborn mixes songs from different years to great effect, placing the exquisite chamber piece “Lotus Blossom” from 1978’s Heart To Heart alongside “The Water Is Wide,” a track from 1995’s Love Songs that features vocals by Linda Ronstadt. The disc also includes “Never Enough,” one of four songs on THEN AGAIN from 1986’s Double Vision, a collaborative effort with keyboardist/arranger Bob James. Closing out the collection is “Anywhere I Wander,” a standard Sanborn loved growing up in St. Louis after seeing Danny Kaye sing it in the film Han Christian Andersen. “The melody continues to haunt me,” he explains in the liner notes.

Then Again: The David Sanborn Anthology
Track Listing

Disc One
1. “The Whisperer”
2. “Benjamin”
3. “Lisa”
4. “It’s You”
5. “Love Will Come Someday”
6. “As We Speak”
7. “Hideaway”
8. “More Than Friends” – Bob James and David Sanborn
9. “Maputo” – Bob James and David Sanborn
10. “Since I Fell For You” – Bob James and David Sanborn with Vocal by Al Jarreau
11. “Chicago Song”
12. “The Dream”
13. “So Far Away”
14. “Bang Bang”
15. “Missing You”

Disc Two
1. “Back Again”
2. “Rain On Christmas”
3. “A Tear For Crystal”
4. “Lotus Blossom”
5. “The Water Is Wide”
6. “Snakes”
7. “First Song”
8. “Try A Little Tenderness”
9. “Never Enough” – Bob James and David Sanborn
10. “One In A Million”
11. “Straight To The Heart”
12. “Goodbye”
13. “Let’s Just Say Goodbye”
14. “Anywhere I Wander”

David Sanborn: Summer Tour Dates

JUNE
27 New York, NY Spirit Cruise
28 Tarrytown, NY Tarrytown Music Hall
29 Verona, NY Turning Stone Casino
30 Harrisburg, PA Whitaker Center

JULY
5 Gabarone, Botswana Gaborone Convention Center
6 Gabarone, Botswana Gaborone Convention Center
7 Brakpan, South Africa Carnival City Casino
14 Sacramento, CA Woodlake Hotel - The Grove
15 Temecula, CA Thornton Winery
21 Snoqualmie, WA Snoqualmie Resort
22 Winter Park, CO Hideway Park - Winter Park Jazz Festival

AUGUST
9 Dallas, TX Winspear Opera House
10 El Paso, TX Abraham Chavez Performing Arts Theatre
11 Tucson, AZ Fox Theater
12 Long Beach, CA Rainbow Lagoon Park (LB Jazz Fest)
16 St. Petersburg, FL Mahaffey Theater
17 Orlando, FL The Plaza Live
18 Atlanta, GA Sunset Jazz Fest @ Chastain Park Amphitheatre
19 Louisville, KY Jim Porter's
21 Milwaukee, WI Potawatomi Bingo Casino - Northern Lights Theater
22 Detroit, MI Chene Park
23 St. Louis, MO The Pageant
24 Country Club Hills, IL Country Club Hills Theater
25 Burnsville, MN Burnsville PAC
31 North Charleston, SC North Charleston PAC

SEPTEMBER
21 Las Vegas, NV Texas Station Gambling Hall & Casino
22 Guerneville, CA Johnson’s Beach & Resort

LOS ANGELES – Warner Music Group (WMG) recently launched SINGLE NOTES, a new line of short form, digital-only books about music and pop culture, with five titles on the Rhino imprint. Following launch, every week will see a new SINGLE NOTES release, each available as a digital download starting at $1.99 on the iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle store.

The next round of SINGLE NOTES ebooks focus on the last days of Rick James (out June 19), adoration for Iggy Pop and The Stooges (out June 26), and the lasting legacy of Soft Cell (out July 3). Each ebook includes newly designed cover art and also features links to purchase music specific to artists or genres covered in the book.

To mark the debut of SINGLE NOTES, the ebook “My Life In The Ghost of Planets: The Story of a CBGB Almost-Was,” is available now for a limited time as a free download on the iBookstore and Amazon’s Kindle store. The book, written by The Planets’ Binky Philips, paints a picture of bad timing and missed opportunities in the ‘70s New York City rock scene from the frontman of the most revered CBGBs act you’ve never heard of.

For more information, please visit www.rhino.com/singlenotes.

“Say Hello, Wave Goodbye: The Fleeting Fame & Lasting Legacy of Soft Cell” by veteran music writer, author, and KEXP DJ Kurt B. Reighley takes a look back at how the British duo weaved their black humor and genuine pathos into a pop phenomenon and fashioned a musical last gasp of pre-AIDS nightlife culture, influencing a generation of artists and fans that followed. Available July 3.