Grateful Dead, Monkees Comps Prepped For Summer of Love 50th Anniversary
Rhino announced a massive Summer of Love 50th anniversary campaign with new vinyl reissues of classic Van Morrison and Dusty Springfield albums and new compilations from era-defining artists like the Grateful Dead and the Monkees.
The sheer number of landmark albums that came out during 1967 means that Rhino has a wide variety of genres to choose from. The latest batch of reissues, which will hit shelves over the course of several weeks in July, pulls from rock, folk, soul, sunshine pop and more, revisiting Van Morrison’s Astral Weeks, Aretha Franklin‘s Aretha Arrives, The Association‘s Insight Out, Judy Collins’ Wildflowers and many more.
Rhino also organized multiple compilations to commemorate the breadth of popular music in 1967. Two of these are artist-specific: Smiling On A Cloudy Day focuses on the early days of the Grateful Dead. Summer of Love selects psych-leaning tracks from the Monkees. For those who wish to shuffle through a selection of sounds from 1967, Gettin’ Together: Groovy Sounds of the Summer of Love includes songs from the Young Rascals, the Hollies and more, while Transparent Days: West Coast Nuggets, a double LP, includes tunes from the likes of Love and the Mojo Men.
2017 is a major year for reissues: the Doors already released a 50th anniversary edition of their self-titled debut; the legendary soul label Stax recently announced a 60th anniversary reissue campaign; and a new edition of the Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band arrives on Friday.