Little Steven unveils expanded CD/DVD edition of acclaimed ‘Rocknroll Rebel – The Early Work’ Box Set
Little Steven a.k.a. Stevie Van Zandt has announced the eagerly awaited CD/DVD edition of his acclaimed career-spanning box set, RockNRoll Rebel – The Early Work (Wicked Cool/UMe). The 13-disc set collects all of the Rock & Roll Hall of Famer’s solo records between 1982 and 1999, including newly remastered editions of six classic albums: Men Without Women (1982), Voice Of America (1983), Freedom – No Compromise (1987), Revolution (1989) and Born Again Savage (1999), as well as the landmark protest record, Sun City (1985), by Artists United Against Apartheid, the supergroup of musicians brought together by Van Zandt, record producer Arthur Baker and journalist Danny Schechter, to fight racial injustice in South Africa. In addition, Men Without Women, Voice Of America, and Freedom – No Compromise will each be joined by an exclusive DVD featuring a classic full-length live concert video from the same era as the album.
The comprehensive collection, mastered by Bob Ludwig at Gateway Mastering, also boasts four CDs of rarities culled from Van Zandt’s personal vault, allowing an in-depth look at his early solo career with 51 tracks spanning previously unreleased demos, B-sides, rehearsals, outtakes, radio spots, non-album singles, classic concert performances, and a number of studio gems, previously unavailable until the box set’s original vinyl release in December 2019. One of the many highlights is the rollicking title track that gives the collection its name. Van Zandt offers personal background and insight about the bonus tracks in the accompanying liner notes.
The CD/DVD box set of RockNRoll Rebel – The Early Work will be available exclusively via the uDiscover music store on Friday, July 31; pre-orders are available now.
Long out-of-print on CD, all six albums will also be available globally as individual CD or CD/DVD editions, with Revolution and Born Again Savage both on sale now at all music retailers. Freedom – No Compromise arrives on Friday, July 10, joined by an 8-panel foldout poster and “Live At The Ritz 1987” concert DVD. Voice of America follows on Friday, July 17, paired with its own foldout poster and “Live at Rockpalast 1984” DVD. Sun City drops on Friday, July 24, followed by the release of Men Without Women – including a 16-panel fold out poster and “Live at Rockpalast 1982” DVD – on Friday, July 31.
To coincide with the release of RockNRoll Rebel, Van Zandt is making select performances from the live DVDs available on his official YouTube channel for the first time. Today sees the premiere of “Trail Of Broken Treaties,” featured on the “Live At The Ritz 1987” DVD included with the Freedom – No Compromise CD/DVD. Filmed live at New York City’s famed rock club The Ritz in 1987, the concert video, which originally aired live on Japanese TV, was mastered from the original video tapes never seen by the public while the audio was restored and mastered by Bob Ludwig, resulting in the best version anyone has ever seen or heard. Long traded amongst fans as a low generation VHS bootleg sourced from the in house screens, the performance shows Van Zandt coming into his own as a true frontman as he leads a killer Disciples of Soul lineup featuring Pat Thrall on guitar, T.M. Stevens on bass, Leslie Ming on drums and Mark Alexander on keys. “This was the only show that was filmed of that tour because it was live on Japanese TV so we’re lucky somebody caught it and now all these years later we can share this high-quality version,” says Van Zandt. “We happened to have a particularly good show that night. I kept changing direction in the ’80s but that show with that band was my rock peak. Of the song, Van Zandt says: ‘Trail’ was one of the two songs dedicated to Native Americans on my Freedom-No Compromise album, the other being ‘Leonard Peltier,’ an American Indian Movement activist that was tragically, wrongfully imprisoned. I’m currently on my fifth President trying to get him out. ‘Trail’ referred specifically to the ‘Trail Of Tears’ forced relocation of tens of thousands of Native Americans from the Southeast to across the Mississippi River following the Indian Removal Act of 1830, and symbolically to the hundreds of broken treaties with Native America.”
Taken together, the three concert DVDs in the box set, or also available on the individual CD/DVD album versions, provide a compelling document of Van Zandt and the band’s evolution with the 1982 Rockpalast concert marking only the second-ever Disciples of Soul show. “We were much bigger in Europe due to the political nature of our music and I also credit performing on the Rockpalast TV show in ’82 and again in ’84 that went live to 17 countries with helping to get our music to a massive audience,” says Van Zandt.” It was a blast revisiting these shows and I’m thrilled they are now being released for all to enjoy.”
Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul made their spectacular debut with 1982’s Men Without Women, highlighted by a pair of rock radio favorites in the opening “Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire” and “Forever,” the latter of which spent nine weeks on Billboard’s “Hot 100” while also receiving heavy rotation at the newly launched MTV. Van Zandt and the Disciples of Soul celebrated Men Without Women with sold out live dates including a legendary performance at NYC’s famed Peppermint Lounge that saw electrifying renditions of the album’s “Save Me” and “This Time It’s For Real” (written by Van Zandt and made famous by Southside Johnny and the Asbury Jukes), both included on RockNRoll Rebel – The Early Work.
Nearly four decades later, Van Zandt’s “Out Of The Darkness,” a standout from his album Voice Of America with its hopeful lyrics of “There’s a hunger can’t be satisfied/And the streets are filled with rage/It’s time to dig deep inside ourselves/And face the life we’ve made” sound as relevant as ever, and sadly could have been written about our current times. “As I said on tour back then and continue to say, we have entered a dark time in the history of our civilization, and not just in the USA, the problem is worldwide. Increased nationalism, isolationism, and religious extremism are nearly everywhere. Those of us who believe in the globalization of peace and prosperity must stick together and be prepared to non-violently fight for what we believe in for as long as it takes.”
A small quantity of the vinyl edition of RockNRoll Rebel – The Early Work, released in December 2019, are still available exclusively via uDiscover. Limited to just 1,000 copies, the bespoke slipcase box set collects the six remastered albums across seven colored vinyl LPs alongside the same four CDs of rarities and bonus tracks. In addition, all six original albums are available individually via uDiscover on both 180-gram black vinyl and exclusive limited edition 180-gram color swirl vinyl mirroring the psychedelic platters included in the box set.
Notably, Born Again Savage is available individually on 2LP vinyl for the first time ever, while the recent vinyl reissue of Sun City, by Artists United Against Apartheid – the extraordinary supergroup brought together by Van Zandt, producer Arthur Baker and journalist Danny Schechter to fight racial injustice in South Africa – marks the landmark protest album’s first time on vinyl since its initial release 35 years ago. The long-out-of-print LP arrived earlier this year to commemorate the 30th anniversary of Nelson Mandela’s historic release from a South African prison after 27 years in captivity. Van Zandt is donating all artist and publishing royalties from Sun City to the Rock and Soul Forever Foundation for the TeachRock.org music history curriculum.
All six Little Steven albums are also available digitally as individual Deluxe Editions, each expanded with the same rare and unreleased material from the era that make up the four discs of rarities in the physical collection. The Early Work, a special digital-only collection compiling 10 previously unreleased tracks of early rehearsals and live performances, is also now available. Also now available digitally is the rare 1985 three-song 12″ EP, Let Me See Your I.D., featuring the Extended Mix, Street Mix and Beat and Scratch Mix of the landmark “Sun City” single.
MEN WITHOUT WOMEN
VOICE OF AMERICA
FREEDOM NO COMPROMISE
REVOLUTION
BORN AGAIN SAVAGE
SUN CITY
THE EARLY WORK
LET ME SEE YOUR I.D.
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LITTLE STEVEN
ROCKNROLL REBEL – THE EARLY WORK
(UMe/Wicked Cool)
RELEASE DATE: FRIDAY, JULY 31
TRACKLISTING
LITTLE STEVEN AND THE DISCIPLES OF SOUL: MEN WITHOUT WOMEN (1982)
(CD/DVD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY 7/31)
Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire
Inside Of Me
Until The Good Is Gone
Men Without Women
Under The Gun
Save Me
Princess Of Little Italy
Angel Eyes
ForeverI’ve Been Waiting
+
ROCKPALAST: LIVE AT GRUGAHALLE, GERMANY – 1982 (DVD)
Intro (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Save Me (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Forever (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Inside Of Me (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Take It Inside (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Until The Good Is Gone (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Princess Of Little Italy (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Caravan (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Under The Gun (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
I Played The Fool (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
I Don’t Want To Go Home (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Angel Eyes (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
This Time It’s For Real (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Can I Get A Witness (Live At Grugahalle, Germany – 1982)
Closing Credits
LITTLE STEVEN AND THE DISCIPLES OF SOUL: VOICE OF AMERICA (1983)
(CD/DVD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY 7/17)
Voice Of America
Justice
Checkpoint Charlie
Solidarity
Out Of The Darkness
Los Desaparecidos (The Disappeared Ones)
Fear
I Am A Patriot (And The River Opens For The Righteous)
Among The Believers
Undefeated (Everybody Goes Home)
+
ROCKPALAST: LIVE AT LORELEY, GERMANY – 1984 (DVD)
Peter Ruchel Intro (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Voice Of America (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Justice (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Save Me (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Fear (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Lyin’ In A Bed Of Fire (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
I Am A Patriot (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Solidarity (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Under The Gun (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Checkpoint Charlie (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Los Desaparecidos (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Out Of The Darkness (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Undefeated (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Men Without Women (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Forever (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Princess Of Little Italy (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Angel Eyes (Live At Loreley, Germany – 1984)
Closing Credits
Peter Ruchel Interview [Concert Film]
LITTLE STEVEN: FREEDOM – NO COMPROMISE (1987)
(CD/DVD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY 7/10)
Freedom
Trail Of Broken Treaties
Pretoria
Bitter Fruit
No More Party’s
Can’t You Feel The Fire
Native American
Sanctuary
+
LIVE AT THE RITZ, NEW YORK – 1987 (DVD)
Freedom (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Sanctuary (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Under The Gun (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Los Desaparecidos (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
I Am A Patriot (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Pretoria (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Fear (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Trail Of Broken Treaties (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Bitter Fruit (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Checkpoint Charlie (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Vote! (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
No More Party’s (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Undefeated (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Native American Feat. Bruce Springsteen (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
Sun City Feat. Bruce Springsteen (Live At The Ritz, New York – 1987)
LITTLE STEVEN: REVOLUTION (1989)
(CD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY NOW)
Revolution
Where Do We Go From Here
Revolution
Education
Balance
Love and Forgiveness
Newspeak
Sexy
Leonard Peltier
Liberation Theology
Discipline
LITTLE STEVEN VAN ZANDT: BORN AGAIN SAVAGE (1999)
(CD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY NOW)
Born Again Savage
Camouflage of Righteousness
Guns, Drugs, And Gasoline
Face of God
Saint Francis
Salvation
Organize
Flesheater
Lust for Enlightenment
Tongues of Angels
ARTISTS UNITED AGAINST APARTHEID: SUN CITY (1985)
(CD AVAILABLE INDIVIDUALLY 7/4)
Sun City
No More Apartheid
Revolutionary Situation
Sun City (Version II) (Edit)
Let Me See Your I.D.
The Struggle Continues
Silver And Gold
BONUS TRACKS (4CD):
CD1: MEN WITHOUT WOMEN (AND BEFORE) (BONUS TRACKS)
RockNRoll Rebel
Who Told You? (Live At Gulliver’s Pub, Red Bank, NJ, June 15, 1973)
That’s How It Feels (Live At Stone Pony, Asbury Park, NJ, May 30, 1976)
When You Dance (Rehearsal, 1976 / Mono)
Little Darlin’ (Stone Pony Rehearsal, 1977 / Mono)
Ain’t No Lady (Stone Pony Rehearsal, 1977 / Mono)
Love On The Wrong Side Of Town (Stone Pony Rehearsal, 1977 / Mono)
Little Girl So Fine (Rehearsal, 1976 / Mono)
Some Things Just Don’t Change (Stone Pony Rehearsal, 1977 / Mono)
She Got Me Where She Wants Me (Stone Pony Rehearsal, 1977 / Mono)
Men Without Women (1982 Radio Spot)
Angel Eyes (Britt Row Version / 1982)
Forever (Britt Row Version / 1982)
Until The Good Is Gone (Britt Row Version / 1982)
I’ve Been Waiting (Early Version / 1982)
Caravan (Britt Row Version / 1982)
Save Me (Live At Peppermint Lounge, New York, NY, July 18, 1982)
Time (Studio Track / 1982)
CD2: VOICE OF AMERICA (BONUS TRACKS)
This Time It’s For Real (Live At Marquee Club, London, UK, October 18, 1982)
It’s Possible (Studio Track/Mono)
Vote! (That Mutha Out) (12″ Single Version)
Vote! Pt. II (1984 Rap Version)
Vote! Pt. III (After World War III) (Rap Version / 12″ Single Version)
Vote! Pt. IV (Instrumental / 12″ Single Version)
Vote! Pt. V (1984 Rap Version)
Caravan (Live At Marquee Club, London, UK, October 18, 1982)
I Don’t Want To Go Home (Live At Marquee Club, London, UK, October 18, 1982)
US Festival Radio Spot 1983
Alive For The First Time (Writing Session, The Birth Of A Song / 1983)
Voice Of America Radio Spot 1984
Out Of The Darkness (12″ Single Version)
Inside Of Me (French TV/1983)
CD3: SUN CITY (BONUS TRACKS)
Let Me See Your I.D. (Extended Mix / 12″ Single Version)
Let Me See Your I.D. (Extended Street Mix / 12″ Single Version)
Let Me See Your I.D. (Beat And Scratch Mix / 12″ Single Version)
Not So Far Away (Dub Mix / UK 12″ Single Version)
Sun City (Last Remix / UK 12″ Single Version)
Soweto Nights
The Struggle Continues (Extra Miles Davis Version)
CD4: FREEDOM – NO COMPROMISE, REVOLUTION (AND LATER) (BONUS TRACKS)
Bitter Fruit (Cana No Mas Dub Mix / UK 12″ Single Version)
Bitter Fruit (No Pasaran Mix / UK 12″ Single Version)
Bitter Fruit (Platano Quemado Mix With Steel Drums / UK 12″ Single Version)
Fruta Amarga (12″ Single Version)
No More Party’s (For Those About To Party…) Rock Mix / 12″ Single Version)
No More Party’s (Funky Party Edit / R&B Mix / UK 7″ Single Version)
Vote Jesse In (Jesse Jackson Campaign Song)
Revolution (Naked City Mix / UK 12″ Single)
Revolution (Naked City Mix Pt. 2 / Maceo’s Thang / UK 12″ Single)
I Wish It Would Rain (Vin Scelsa Hungerthon, 1995)
Princess Of Little Italy (Vin Scelsa Hungerthon / 1989)
It’s Been A Long Time (Solo Acoustic)
