August Holds Much for Shout Factory

Sweet Talking Soul: The Manhattans 1965–1990

3-Disc Set In Stores August 19

With their smooth harmonies, distinctive stylings and a strong penchant for telling bittersweet stories, vocal quintet The Manhattans have been captivating audiences for over four decades with their enviable canon of songs. This 3-Disc Shout! Factory collection titled Sweet Talking Soul: The Manhattans 1965–1990 marks the first time that the cream from all four of their original record labels has been compiled in one sweet place in a set containing all of the group’s charting hits.

Formed in Jersey City, NJ, The Manhattans started out as a doo-wop influenced R&B group in 1962. They evolved through the years, enjoying countless hits and success on the charts well into the 1980s. The Manhattans were inducted into the Rhythm & Blues Hall of Fame in 1999, receiving the Pioneer Award for being one of the few groups able to make the transition from doo-wop–inflected soul to the lush symphonic soul of the ’70s. The current lineup of the band continues to tour today and will have dates this summer in Trenton, Newark, New York, Austin, Boston, Detroit, Nashville, and Las Vegas. They’ll also play the Black Heritage Festival in Clarksburg, West VA, and the Mississippi Blues & Heritage Festival in Greenville, MS.

Old Records Never Die: The Mott The Hoople/Ian Hunter Anthology

2 disc set in stores August 26, one disc featuring 16 Mott The Hoople tracks including “All The Young Dudes”, and one disc featuring 16 Ian Hunter tracks including “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” and “Cleveland Rocks.”

Ian Hunter, leader and principal songwriter of Mott The Hoople, has over the course of a career that continues to this day, been revealed as one of the most illuminating commentators on the rock ’n’ roll relationship between artist and audience. That’s the journey these two CDs will take you on, guided by what remains one of the most distinctive voices our music has produced. Though Mott had a few hits in the early ’70s, the band never quite broke through into the mainstream. However, they had an undeniable effect on multiple English music movements that followed them—pub rock, punk, even the new Brit metal.

Three Dog Night: Greatest Hits Live

In Stores August 26

In 1972 Three Dog Night was truly a golden animal. Singers Chuck Negron, Danny Hutton and Cory Wells had already led their group into the Top 20 no less than 14 times since their 1968 debut, earning three #1 Billboard singles along the way. The trio’s uniquely interwoven harmonies and inspired taste in material were obvious reasons why the group sold 50 million albums and enjoyed an enviable string of hits. But there was another factor behind Three Dog Night’s success that many pundits didn’t see: the group’s enormous popularity as a live act.

The tracks included on this album were recorded during the group’s 1972/’73 world tour, an ambitious jaunt that took them from North America to Europe, Japan and Australia. By that time Three Dog Night had racked up such now-classic hits as “One,” “Easy To Be Hard,” “Celebrate,” “Mama Told Me (Not To Come)” and “Joy To The World”—a list that serves as a reminder of how eclectic their song choices were.

With the release of these live tracks, Three Dog Night’s place in pop history becomes clearer. In their touring heyday, Negron, Hutton and Wells lived fast, sang proud and inspired manic adulation in their fans across the planet. If they didn’t bring joy to the whole world, they came amazingly close.