And the next 200 starts today. La-La Land Records has announced their latest release, partnering with Sony Music for a long-in-development expansion of Dimitri Tiomkin's score to The Fall of the Roman Empire. The epic, Samuel Bronston production, which starred Alec Guinness and Christopher Plummer as Marcus Aurelius and his son Commodus during the last days of the Roman empire, is notable for three unique traits: its standing among its contemporary sword-and-sandal epics for its intelligent
Archives for March 13, 2012
Love in Action: Todd Rundgren Goes "Back to the Bars," To "Mink Hollow" and Beyond
Welcome back to our Rundgren Round-Up, spotlighting the final installments in Edsel’s series of the complete Bearsville Todd Rundgren and Utopia reissues! On 1978’s Back to the Bars, Todd Rundgren was in gentle, intimate mode, feeding off audiences in New York, Los Angeles and Cleveland eager to hear his most accessible tunes on a “retrospective” tour. For this look back at a near-decade’s worth of music making, Rundgren enlisted the classic Utopia line-up of Kasim Sulton, Willie Wilcox and
Contest: Win Meat Loaf's "Hell in a Handbasket"
The weather is warming up around Second Disc HQ, and as our way of celebrating, we're giving away a "hot" disc from our friends at Legacy Recordings. Released in Australia last fall and in stores in the U.S. today, Hell in a Handbasket is the 12th and latest album by rock icon Meat Loaf. Produced by Meat Loaf's longtime lead guitarist Paul Crook, the disc features 12 new recordings (including a cover of The Mamas & The Papas' "California Dreamin'") and guest appearances by Public Enemy's
Review: Big Brother and the Holding Company Featuring Janis Joplin, "Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968"
Journey back with me to 1968, will you? Your time machine is courtesy Owsley “Bear” Stanley, visionary sound engineer and renowned LSD chemist. But you don’t need any lysergic acid to enjoy the music contained on the little silver disc known as Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy 88697 96409 2, 2012), billed as the first release from Bear’s Sonic Journals. That said, a little Southern Comfort probably wouldn’t hurt. (Or a toke or two, as per the suggestion of Stanley’s son
Release Round-Up: Week of March 12
Earl Van Dyke, The Motown Sound: The Complete Albums & More (Hip-o Select/Motown) Two discs of classic instrumentals and rare single sides from Motown's legendary Funk Brothers - their first and some of their only recordings to be credited just to them. Big Brother and The Holding Company featuring Janis Joplin, Live at the Carousel Ballroom 1968 (Columbia/Legacy) From the archives of late engineer Owsley "Bear" Stanley, an unreleased show featuring Joplin and band at the legendary San