Among the first releases of 2012 from newbie label Real Gone Music is a two-on-one collection offering the compact disc debut of Bill Medley’s 100% and Soft and Soulful. But those titles are apt to describe the entire Real Gone line-up for January, as the young label has given 100% to make available a wide variety of music: soft and soulful, yes, but also jazzy, twangy, and folky. There’s something for everyone in this array of once-neglected titles. As 1968 began, The Righteous Brothers were
Archives for January 24, 2012
Reissues on Target: Retail-Exclusive Expansions Available for Adele, Blake Shelton
If you're in the U.S. and are heading to Target after work for a few household items, you might want to keep an eye out for two recent hit albums, both newly expanded in sets exclusive to the retail chain. First up, a familiar expansion of last year's biggest album, 21, by British soul singer Adele. Unless you've been living underneath a rock for the past year, you know that the 21-year-old Grammy Award winner for Best New Artist has had a precedent-shattering year with this record. In an age
You've Got a Friend in Intrada: Randy Newman's "Toy Story 3" Arrives on CD
Toy Story 3 certainly had its fair amount of accomplishments. It was highest-grossing film of 2010 (domestic and worldwide), the all-time box office champ among animated features, and in the Top 10 highest-grossing films of all time. It reaped five Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture, and took two of the gold statues home. It became the first film to be released theatrically in 7.1 surround sound. But one thing Toy Story 3 didn't have was a proper soundtrack album on CD.
Movin', Kickin', Groovin': A Barry White Classic Expanded by Hip-o Select
Hip-o Select turns its focus away from Motown for some more satin soul from the inimitable Barry White, with a nicely-expanded release of his 1976 LP Let the Music Play. By the time the title track from the album - an underrated plea for music to soothe the pain of a lost love over some of the lushest strings from The Love Unlimited Orchestra - was released as a single in late 1975, White was virtually his own brand. He'd recently come off a triplet of Top 10 singles in 1974 and
Last Train to Clarksville: Limited Quantity Remains of Monkees "Greatest Hits" on Orange Vinyl
Monkee Alert! In 1969, the band itself was coming apart at the seams, and its television program had been cancelled a year earlier. But Colgems Records had a solution to reignite interest in the zany music makers: release the first-ever Monkees hits collection! That LP was The Monkees Greatest Hits, a 14-track album that lives up to its promise: "I'm a Believer," "Last Train to Clarksville," "Pleasant Valley Sunday," "Daydream Believer," "A Little Bit Me, A Little Bit You," and so on. The
A-wop-bop-a-loo-lop-a-lop-bam-boom! "Here's Little Richard" Returns in April
When compiling our reissue review on Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time last year, it was a bit of a surprise at Second Disc HQ to learn, for all the reissues of Little Richard's classic Here's Little Richard on the market, that few of them were particularly archival-oriented. That's about to change this year, though, with an expanded reissue of the iconic album by Concord Music Group in April. Richard Penniman was no stranger to performing and recording when he released his first
Release Round-Up: Week of January 24
The Doors, L.A. Woman: 40th Anniversary Edition (Reprise/Rhino) / Mr. Mojo Risin': The Story of L.A. Woman (Eagle Rock/Rhino) The Doors' final album with Jim Morrison, memorialized in both a double-disc set with unreleased alternates and outtakes and a DVD/Blu-Ray documentary. Various Artists, 2012 Grammy Nominees (Universal Republic) And the nominees are...on this disc. Various Artists, Chimes of Freedom: The Songs of Bob Dylan Honoring 50 Years of Amnesty