On December 8, Verve/UMe will be releasing five-LP boxed sets (180-gram vinyl, authentic period sleeves that replicate the original artwork) that feature seminal albums from three jazz greats: vocalists Billie Holiday and Dinah Washington and saxophonist Stan Getz. (CD versions of the boxes will be available a week later.) Holiday’s Classic Lady Day compiles 1957’s Solitude: Songs By Billie Holiday (which features material from a 1952 10-inch), A Recital By Billie Holiday, Velvet Moods: Songs By Billie Holiday and Lady Sings The Blues (all three 1956) and 1958’s All Or Nothing At All. Washington’s The Divine Miss Dinah collects After Hours With Miss D and Dinah Jams (both 1954), 1955’s For Those In Love, 1957’s The Swingin’ Miss D and 1959’s What A Diff’rence A Day Makes!. Last but not least is Getz’s Bossa Nova Years, compiling Jazz Samba and Big Band Bossa Nova (both 1962), 1963’s Jazz Samba Encore!, 1964’s Getz/Gilberto (a collaboration with Brazilian guitarist/singer Joao Gilberto featuring hit single “The Girl From Ipanema”) and 1966’s Stan Getz With Guest Artist Laurindo Almeida (a 1963 collaboration with the São Paulo guitarist) … What A Time To Be Alive, Superchunk‘s first album in four years, is out February 16 via Merge; the 11-track LP features a number of guest vocalists, including Stephin Merritt, David Bazan, Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) and Sabrina Ellis (A Giant Dog) … Neil Young + Promise Of The Real will release The Visitor (Reprise) on December 1 … On January 12, Omnivore will issue Live At Lafayette’s Music Room, a 20-track concert album recorded by Big Star in its hometown of Memphis in 1973 featuring songs from its first two albums and covers of songs by the likes of the Kinks, Flying Burrito Brothers and T.Rex … Van Morrison is back December 1 with his second album of 2017; the 16-track Versatile (Legacy) features the legend taking on some of the 20th century’s coolest jazz-vocal standards (made popular by the likes of Chet Baker, Frank Sinatra and Nat King Cole) as well as six of his own originals … Widdershins, the ninth solo album from Grant-Lee Phillips, is out February 23 via Yep Roc … On March 9, Cooking Vinyl will issue In Your Own Sweet Time, the fifth album from the Fratellis … The Wombats return February 9 with fourth LP Beautiful People Will Ruin Your Life courtesy of Kobalt … Former Black Swans frontman Jerry David DeCicca will release Time The Teacher via Impossible Ark on February 9 … Sub Pop is reissuing all three albums by post-hardcore heroes Hot Snakes—2000’s Automatic Midnight, 2002’s Suicide Invoice and 2004’s Audit In Progress—January 19 on CD, vinyl and, yes kids, cassette; here’s hoping for a new album … More Of The Monkees, the Monkees‘ best-selling album, is getting the deluxe treatment December 15 from Rhino with a three-CD set featuring stereo and mono mixes of the original LP, plus a staggering 55 previously unreleased tracks and a bonus seven-inch featuring a remixed “I’m A Believer” and a vocals-only “(I’m Not Your) Steppin’ Stone” … Billy Idol‘s self-titled debut, Rebel Yell and Idolize Yourself: The Very Best Of Billy Idol are now available on high-quality vinyl courtesy of UMe … Out now is Buried Treasure, Volume One (Mailboat), an 11-track collection of early previously unreleased and rare recordings by Jimmy Buffett, along with song-by-song narration by Buffett and (for the deluxe edition) a bonus DVD, Buried Treasure: Mobile To Nashville … Dr. Demento Covered In Punk features never-before-released punk versions of songs from the Dr. Demento Show alongside newly “demented” covers of other punk standards; out January 12 via Demented Punk, the 30-track collection comes as a three-LP or two-CD set and features the likes of Joan Jett, the Misfits, Fred Schneider, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Los Straitjackets, Shonen Knife, Rasputina, Philly Boy Roy and, yes, William Shatner … Out now is the 15-track Diamond Diana: The Legacy Collection (Motown/UMe), a Diana Ross best-of also featuring a new dance remix of “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough” … Also out now, on DVD, is The Life & Songs Of Kris Kristofferson: All Star Concert Celebration, celebrating the music of the great Kris Kristofferson with performances by the Man himself, as well as Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash, Hank Williams Jr., Alison Krauss, Lady Antebellum and others; trailer is here … MVD is releasing Summer Of ’82: When Zappa Came To Sicily, a documentary about Frank Zappa‘s infamous concert in Italy that closed out his 1982 European tour, on DVD on December 8 .. The Vince Guaraldi Trio‘s legendary A Charlie Brown Christmas has been reissued by Craft on 180-gram vinyl and packaged in a vintage tip-on jacket with the original 1965 album art … Speaking of the most wonderful time of the year: Jim Brickman‘s A Joyful Christmas (BMG) is a 16-track holiday album featuring guest appearances by Dick Van Dyke, Jane Lynch, Five For Fighting and more … Don’t put away the eggnog just yet: Out now on Epic is the soundtrack to the animated Mariah Carey’s All I Want For Christmas Is You, featuring four Mariah Carey tracks (including a new song) and five other holidays tunes.
