Works by Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash and George Harrison are among the major catalog titles slated to be released in the first quarter of 2004.
On Feb. 24, Universal Music Enterprises (UME) will celebrate the 40th anniversary of the British Invasion with a multi-disc set on the Hip-O label. UME will also begin a year-long, multi-title campaign feting rock’n’roll’s birth.
Rhino delivers “Black Box: The Complete Original Black Sabbath,” an eight-CD set collecting each album issued by the band’s original lineup (plus a bonus DVD) in March. On March 9, Sony catalog division Legacy will honor metal gods Judas Priest with “Metalogy,” a four-disc boxed set to be delivered in a pleather case with metallic studs. The set comes two years after Legacy reissued the band’s entire catalog.
Legacy is also prepping a thematic, two-disc Johnny Cash anthology akin to the Man In Black’s three-disc “Love, God, Murder” 2000 box. On March 9, the label will issue the sixth title in its Bob Dylan bootleg series, the two-disc “Bob Dylan Live 1964 – Concert at Philharmonic Hall.” Later that month, Legacy will also issue the five-CD Dave Brubeck box “For All Time,” featuring a slew of previously unreleased material. Both Brubeck and Cash (in the months before his death) were involved in the creation of their respective projects.
On March 29 in the U.K., BMG unveils remastered, expanded editions of eight Eurythmics albums. These albums are expected to hit North America shortly thereafter. The spring will also see long-awaited reissues of albums by George Harrison (via Dark Horse/EMI) and Fleetwood Mac (via Rhino).
Echo & the Bunnymen, Emmylou Harris and Anita Baker will each have five albums reissued by Rhino in the first quarter. The batch of Echo albums arrives first, on Jan. 27, with each boasting at least five bonus tracks. Harris’ albums will feature at least one extra track each. The label’s noted revival of Elvis Costello’s catalog continues in April with two-disc reissues of “Almost Blue,” “Goodbye Cruel World” and “Kojak Variety.”
In addition, UME’s deluxe edition series will continue in 2004 with expanded, remastered, rarity-filled versions of Boyz II Men’s “Legacy,” Weezer’s 1994 self-titled debut, Bob Marley’s “Live!,” and the soundtracks to “American Graffiti,” “Big Chill” and “Easy Rider.”
EMI Music Marketing reissues David Bowie’s “Black Tie
White Noise” on Jan. 13. The label has a number of other projects on tap but not yet scheduled, including the first Iggy Pop CD/DVD anthology and a Frank Sinatra “Great Performances” CD/DVD.
