Gone Digital: Jon Anderson, Al Stewart, Solomon Burke, Matt Monro, and Maxine Nightingale

If it’s Tuesday, then it must be time for Gone Digital, our weekly look at five recent additions to Rhino’s digital catalog. As ever, the types of music we’ll be covering will be all over the place, but that’s Rhino for you: we’re all about variety!

• Jon Anderson, SONG OF SEVEN (REMASTERED & EXPANDED EDITION) (1980): This sophomore solo album from the longtime Yes frontman was his first to find him working with an actual band (the New Life Band), but it also featured a few high-profile guest stars, including Jack Bruce, Simon Phillips, and Chris Rainbow. Four of the tracks – “Some Are Born,” “Hear It,” “Everybody Loves You,” and “Days” – were originally written and demoed while Yes was recording TORMATO, but they sounded decidedly different once Anderson recorded them for his own LP.

• Al Stewart, 24 CARROTS (40^TH ANNIVERSARY EDITION) (1980): After years of being known predominantly as a singer-songwriter, Stewart changed things up by recording this LP with a band, Shot in the Dark. Since it resulted in a top-30 hit (“Midnight Rocks”), it’s hard to say that it was a bad idea. This expanded version features several demos as well as live tracks from Stewart’s performance at the Hammersmith Odeon, including his signature single, “Year of the Cat.”

• Solomon Burke, THE KING OF ROCK ‘N’ SOUL: THE ATLANTIC RECORDINGS (1962-1968) (2020): From his 1963 Atlantic Records debut IF YOU NEED ME through his 1968 swan song for the label, I WISH I KNEW, this is all of the LPs that Burke recorded for the label, plus the singles, too. Yes, even “Be Bop Grandma.”

• Matt Monro, LET THERE BE LOVE (2020): Deemed “The Man with the Golden Voice,” Monro was one of the most popular vocalists of the ‘60s and ‘70s, albeit one who’s been highly underrated by many. You’d most likely recognize him for “From Russia with Love” and “Born Free,” but neither of those tunes are on this 44-track collection. That said, you will recognize a ton of the material here, so press play and bask in the easy listening goodness.

• Maxine Nightingale, RIGHT BACK WHERE WE STARTED FROM (2020): This compilation features all but one of the tunes from Nightingale’s debut album – the lone exception, for no discernable reason, is “Reasons” – but it makes up for that omission by including a few tunes from her sophomore effort, NIGHT LIFE.