Archive for the ‘Doris Day’ Category
Songwriters Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil Are “Born to Be Together” on New Ace CD
Born to Be Together: could a more apropos title have been devised for a collection of the songs of Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil? Married since 1961, the team both defines and defies the phrase “unsung heroes.” Without hit records as recording artists, Mann and Weil have never had the name recognition of their Brill Building-era compatriots like Carole King or Neil Sedaka, but these Grammy Award-winning Rock and Roll Hall of Famers are hardly unsung. If all they’d ever written was the most played song of the twentieth century, The Righteous Brothers’ “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” they would have gone down in the history books. With over 1,000 songs reportedly under their collective belt and some 100 hits (not a bad track record, eh?) charted, Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil are simply international treasures. Ace Records has recognized this with Born to Be Together, the label’s second volume of songs from their storied catalogue following 2009’s Glitter and Gold.
A 2004 theatrical revue starring the couple, They Wrote That?, made reference to one of the most frequent exclamations regarding their body of work. You might find yourself saying that yourself glancing the track listing of this 25-song compendium: “You’ve Lost That Lovin’ Feelin’,” “Saturday Night at the Movies,” “We’ve Gotta Get Out of This Place,” “Make Your Own Kind of Music.” But those hits are just the tip of the iceberg here.
Compilation producer Mick Patrick has expertly woven those familiar tracks (all in their most famous versions) into a tapestry that also takes in lesser-known versions of hit songs and true rarities. The disc also takes in compositions co-written by Mann and/or Weil with other luminaries, among them Gerry Goffin, Russ Titelman, Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller, Ernie Freeman, and of course, Phil Spector. The specter of Spector lingers on both the majestic songs he produced (“Lovin’ Feelin’,” The Crystals’ “Uptown,” The Ronettes’ darkly seductive “Born to Be Together”) and those he co-wrote as recorded by others (Len Barry’s Philly treatment of “You Baby”).
After the jump: much more on Mann and Weil, including a full track listing and order link! Read the rest of this entry »
On the Seventh Day of Second Discmas…
Here at The Second Disc, the holiday season is the perfect time to do what we love to do best: share the gift of music. For the second year in a row, we have we reached out to some of our favorite reissue labels and we’ve teamed with them to play Santa Claus to our awesome and faithful readers. It’s called – what else? – Second Discmas, and it’s going on now through Christmas!
For the seventh day of Second Discmas, we’re spreading holiday cheer with the complete Christmas recordings of a true national treasure: Doris Day!
Thanks to the wonderful people at Real Gone Music, we’re able to give TWO LUCKY WINNERS a copy of Doris’ brand-new Complete Christmas Collection!
If you don’t already know the drill by now, it’s a cinch to enter! Just click on the graphic up top to head over to Contest Central for the complete rules! And there’s plenty more where that came from in tomorrow’s final giveaway, so enter now and wait ’til you see what we’ve got for you on Christmas Eve!
Release Round-Up: Weeks of October 30 and November 6
Election Day is upon us today! But if you’re looking to cast your vote for some music, too, we might be able to help! Though we were able to keep the lights on each day at The Second Disc, Hurricane Sandy kept us from publishing a Release Round-Up last week. So without further ado, here’s the best of the best for the weeks of October 30 and November 6!
Louis Armstrong, The Complete OKeh, Columbia and RCA Victor Recordings 1925-1933 (OKeh/Columbia/RCA/Legacy) (10 CDs) / Charlie Christian, The Genius of the Electric Guitar (Columbia/ Legacy) (4 CDs) / Duke Ellington, The Complete Columbia Studio Albums Collection 1951-1958 (Columbia/ Legacy) (9 CDs) / Bessie Smith, The Complete Columbia Recordings (Columbia/ Legacy) (10 CDs)
Four titans of jazz are celebrated with comprehensive box sets from Legacy Recordings! Full details on each box can be found here!
Glen Campbell, Try a Little Kindness / The Glen Campbell Goodtime Album / The Last Time I Saw Her (BGO)
Three long-out-of-print albums from the country and pop legend arrive on two CDs from BGO! Campbell’s renditions of “MacArthur Park,” “Honey, Come Back,” “Try a Little Kindness,” “Just Another Piece of Paper,” “Bridge Over Troubled Water” and “Help Me Make It Through the Night” are among the great songs you’ll hear here!
Creedence Clearwater Revival, Ultimate Creedence Clearwater Revival: Greatest Hits & All-Time Classics (Fantasy, 2012)
You’ll find 3 CDs of hits, deep cuts and live tracks here from the Bay Area swamp-rock legends! Full track listing and more can be found here.
El Topo Soundtrack (LP & CD)/ David Peel & the Lower East Side, Have a Marijuana / Perry Como, Complete RCA Christmas Collection / Doris Day, The Complete Christmas Collection / SSgt. Barry Sadler, Ballads of the Green Berets
Real Gone Music’s October 30 slate included a counterculture classic from David Peel, a lost Apple Records soundtrack, two Christmas collections from beloved vocalists and an expanded reissue of SSgt. Barry Sadler’s Ballads of the Green Berets! Full details are here!
Bert Jansch, Heartbreak: 30th Anniversary Edition (Omnivore) (CD / LP)
The great guitarist, singer and songwriter’s 1982 album arrives in an expanded edition on both CD and LP from Omnivore Recordings! Track listing and all details are here.
Jethro Tull, Thick as a Brick: 40th Anniversary Edition (Chrysalis) (CD/DVD Box and 2-LP Edition)
Extra! Extra! Jethro Tull’s 1971 album is celebrated in a CD/DVD box set and as a 2-LP vinyl edition! Read all about it here.
Barbara Lewis, The Complete Atlantic Singles / Johnny Mathis, This Is Love/Olé / Johnny Mathis, The Sweetheart Tree/The Shadow of Your Smile
For November 6, Real Gone has released a 2-CD set of soulful singles from the “Baby, I’m Yours” singer, plus another two of Johnny Mathis’ long-unavailable Mercury Records albums! Full details are here!
Gary Lewis and the Playboys, (You Don’t Have To) Paint Me a Picture / New Directions / Now! (BGO)
Three albums circa 1967-1968 arrive on CD from the sixties’ pop sensations, including New Directions with its line-up of songs from the “Happy Together” team of Bonner and Gordon; and Now! with its Playboys takes on pop hits such as “Windy” and “I Wonder What She’s Doing Tonight.” You’ll also find contributions on this new 2-CD set from the young Leon Russell.
The Rolling Stones, Charlie is My Darling (Super Deluxe Box Set) (ABKCO, 2012)
The documentary Charlie is My Darling chronicles the early days of The Rolling Stones, and it’s arrived in a DVD/BD/CD/LP box set from ABKCO! Track listing and full details are here.
James Taylor, James Taylor at Christmas (UMe)
JT’s 2004 Christmas collection arrives, with an altered track listing and a couple of newly-compiled tracks, in a new iteration from Universal! Watch this space for full details!
Various Artists, Now That’s What I Call Disney (Sony/Universal/EMI/Walt Disney)
This 20-track collection reaches back as far as Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs and brings the Disney legacy up to date with songs from more recent classics like Toy Story and Tangled. The title is derived from a 2011 3-CD compilation that arrived in the United Kingdom.
Various Artists, Rodgers & Hammerstein: The Complete Broadway Musicals (Masterworks Broadway, 2012)
Oh, what a beautiful box set! This impressive 12-CD box set brings together one recording of each of Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein II’s groundbreaking Broadway musicals! Full details are here.
The Velvet Underground and Nico: 45th Anniversary Deluxe Edition (Verve/UMe, 2012)
The Velvets’ debut album goes Super Deluxe in this 6-CD set. Read more here!
Dionne Warwick, Now (Blue Horizon)
The legendary singer returns with an all-new studio set revisiting classics from Burt Bacharach and Hal David. The Phil Ramone-produced album includes four songs (two penned by Bacharach and two by David) which Warwick had never previously recorded. The whole story is here!
The Who, Live at Hull 1970 (Geffen/UMe)
The incendiary 2-CD concert from Pete, Roger, John and Keith arrives for the first time as a stand-alone edition; it was previously available as part of the 2010 Live at Leeds box set. You’ll find the track listing here.
Bill Withers, The Complete Sussex and Columbia Masters (Columbia/Legacy)
You can rediscover the entire album catalogue of the “Ain’t No Sunshine”/Lean on Me” man with this 9-CD box set from Legacy Recordings! Full track listing and more can be found here!
Frank Zappa, 11 catalogue reissues (UMe/Zappa Records)
Another round of Official Releases from the Frank Zappa camp has arrived, from 1984’s Francesco Zappa through 1991’s Make a Jazz Noise Here. Plus: the 2012 compilation Understanding America makes its debut. Read the full rundown with order links here!
From Doris Day to David Peel: Real Gone Slate Includes Rare Apple Records Album, Mathis at Mercury, Como Christmas and More!
The holiday season must be upon us, for Real Gone Music has announced its Christmas-themed offerings – but that’s not all! The enterprising label has two offerings with Apple Records ties (one actually from the Apple catalogue!), the complete singles of a soul legend, a counterculture classic, a distinctly non-counterculture classic, and well…just read on about the rest!
First up, four more of Johnny Mathis’ long-unavailable Mercury Records LPs are arriving on CD for the first time! (Read about the first batch and Mathis’ history with the label here!) On November 6, Real Gone pairs 1964’s This Is Love, one of the romantic balladeer’s most sublime efforts, with one of his most unusual: 1965’s Olé. Featuring Latin songs sung in Spanish and Portuguese (including two from the groundbreaking bossa nova film score to Black Orpheus) Olé finds Mathis tackling challenging repertoire, including light classical, aided by Allyn Ferguson’s authentic arrangements. The next two albums arriving from Real Gone are more traditional, yet no less worthwhile. The Sweetheart Tree (1965) is titled after Henry Mancini’s theme from The Great Race, while The Shadow of Your Smile (1966) takes its cue from the Johnny Mandel/Paul Francis Webster song from The Sandpiper. The former largely sees Mathis wrapping his velvety vocals around familiar standards, while the latter takes a more contemporary bent with two Beatles tunes, three songs from Alan Jay Lerner and Burton Lane’s Broadway musical On a Clear Day You Can See Forever, “A Taste of Honey” and Antonio Carlos Jobim’s “Corcovado.” (The Sweetheart Tree was issued in the U.K. with a rejiggered track line-up including some additional songs. Based on the current track listing supplied to Amazon, it doesn’t appear that the non-U.S. tracks have been included, but we’ll report back should we find otherwise!)
Over at Atlantic Records, Barbara Lewis was making her way up the charts with such sensual, memorable soul ballads as “Hello Stranger” (which she wrote!), “Baby I’m Yours” and “Make Me Your Baby.” The 2-CD The Complete Atlantic Singles is the first truly exhaustive survey of Lewis’ sixties tenure at Atlantic, and contains tracks penned by Lewis, Chip Taylor, Billy Vera and Van McCoy, as well as productions by Bert Berns, Arif Mardin and Artie Butler. The set contains the A-sides and B-sides of all 17 singles she issued for the label, many of which are making their debut on CD. Lewis has contributed to Richie Unterberger’s liner notes. It’s due on November 6.
After the jump: a veritable feast of Christmas classics! Plus: Real Gone takes a bite out of the Apple, and pre-order links for all titles! Read the rest of this entry »
Happy Birthday, Doris Day! Screen Legend Celebrated With “Ultimate Collection” and TCM “Smile and a Song”
Doris Day made quite a splash in 2011 when My Heart, her first album of primarily original material in some seventeen years, entered the British album charts with a Top 10 placement. The singer, actress and animal rights activist turns 88 today, April 3. Day remains greatly beloved around the world, and our coverage of My Heart quickly became one of The Second Disc’s most-visited articles since our inception in January 2010. Now, two new releases are looking back on her rich musical legacy. We have previously reported on With a Smile and a Song, a 2-CD anthology released by Sony Masterworks in conjunction with Turner Classic Movies and Warner Home Video. It arrives in stores today and coincides with a new 4-DVD box set from Warner Home Video, TCM Greatest Legends: Doris Day, and a 5-night “Star of the Month” retrospective on the cable network. Across the pond, Sony Music has delivered The Ultimate Collection, a single-disc set bringing the Day catalogue up to the present day with the inclusion of two tracks from My Heart.
With a Smile and a Song has been curated by the great lady herself, with two 15-track CDs. Though many of Day’s all-time favorites are present, this isn’t a typical “greatest hits” set. Songs like “Everybody Loves a Lover” and “Move Over, Darling” among the absent titles. The first disc is dedicated to “The Leading Lady of Movies,” featuring songs performed by Day on the silver screen from motion pictures like Love Me or Leave Me, Billy Rose’s Jumbo and of course, The Man Who Knew Too Much, in which Day introduced Jay Livingston and Ray Evans’ “Whatever Will Be, Will Be (Que Sera, Sera).” Calamity Jane’s classic “Secret Love” is here, as is the title song to Pillow Talk and Romance on the High Seas’ memorable “It’s Magic.”
The second disc of With a Smile and a Song, “The Leading Lady of Song,” is no less impressive, offering tracks from the late 1940s right up through the mid-1960s. Two tracks are offered from Day’s sublime 1962 pairing with Andre Previn, Duet, while another two songs from Latin for Lovers see the singer addressing the bossa nova phenomenon. Some of America’s greatest composers are represented on this disc, including Jerome Kern, Cole Porter and George Gershwin, and the collection’s namesake is also heard here. “With a Smile and a Song,” from Walt Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs, also titled Day’s 1965 Columbia album for children of all ages.
Hit the jump for details on The Ultimate Collection, plus track listing and discography for both releases, as well as news of the Warner Home Video box set and more! Read the rest of this entry »
Release Round-Up: Week of April 3
Johnny Cash, Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth (Columbia/Legacy)
Three complete gospel albums – one of which was never released – and a heap of unreleased material make this one to look out for if you like The Man in Black at his sacred best.
Morrissey, Viva Hate: Deluxe Edition (Liberty/EMI)
If you can call it that, an expanded edition of Moz’s debut album, remastered with one bonus track, one edited track and one excised track.
Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!! (Hip-O/UMe)
The standalone CD and DVD contents of that box set that everyone rightfully hated, including Costello himself.
Doris Day, With a Smile and a Song (Turner Classic Movies/Sony Masterworks)
Just in time for the legend’s birthday! A two-disc set of highlights personally selected by Day, devoted equally to her songs in film and on standalone albums.
fIREHOSE, “lowFLOWs”: The Columbia Anthology 1991-1993 (Columbia/Legacy)
Mike Watt’s late ’80s/early ’90s punk trio’s last two albums, with a heap of B-sides and rarities, in honor of fIREHOSE’s reunion tour.
The Human League, Dare: Deluxe Edition (Virgin/EMI)
Don’t you want this expanded edition of the British synthpop band’s breakthrough album?
The Smiths, The Smiths / Hatful of Hollow / Meat is Murder / The Queen is Dead / The World Won’t Listen / Louder Than Bombs / Strangeways, Here We Come / “Rank” (Sire/Rhino)
The remasters released in that mega box set last year are now available on their own.
Release Round-Up: Week of December 6
Neil Diamond, The Very Best of Neil Diamond (Columbia/Legacy)
A new single-disc greatest hits compilation that unites classic Columbia stuff with early works for Bang and Universal and the excellent, newer stuff he’s been doing with producer Rick Rubin. The E.T. song, though? Not here. Watch for Joe’s review later today!
Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures (Universal Republic)
The late, lamented neo-soul singer memorialized with a posthumous album.
Fred Wesley & The J.B.’s, The Lost Album featuring Watermelon Man (Hip-o Select/Polydor)
James Brown catalogue titles don’t necessarily have to be chock full of James Brown, as this lost album from the early ’70s proves.
Elvis Costello and The Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook!!! Super Deluxe Edition (Hip-O/UMe)
Which Elvis Costello box set? Oh yeah, that one.
Doris Day, My Heart (Arwin Productions)
Doris Day’s first album of original material in seventeen years hits stores in the U.S. after notching a chart success in the U.K.! The American edition contains one previously unreleased bonus track, “Stewball.”
Bee Gees, Main Course (Rhino Flashback)
Barry, Robin and Maurice’s 1975 smash introduced the world to “Jive Talkin’,” “Nights on Broadway,” “Fanny (Be Tender with My Love)” and “Wind of Change.” Long out-of-print, Main Course makes a budget-priced comeback thanks to our friends at Rhino!
UPDATE: Doris Day Opens The Vaults For “My Heart” and There’s Plenty For Beach Boys Fans, Album Gets U.S. Release
The vault has finally been opened! Sony Music U.K. has confirmed a release date and track listing for singing legend Doris Day’s long-awaited My Heart, on which your humble correspondent first reported in August 2010 and revisited back in November! Thanks to the fine folks at Doris Day Tribute for spreading this news! My Heart marks Doris’ first album of original studio material in some seventeen years, since The Love Album, and it features a number of tracks that will be of interest to the Beach Boys fan and collector communities. Day’s 29th studio album, My Heart is set for release on September 5 in the U.K. with an American release hopefully to follow.
UPDATE 11/29: That American release is almost here! Doris Day’s own production company, Arwin Productions, drops My Heart next Tuesday, December 6, in the United States. And the Arwin release will include a special U.S.-only bonus track, “Stewball.” A traditional tune as arranged by Terry Melcher, “Stewball” was recorded circa 1985 for the Doris Day’s Best Friends television program, and it now makes its first commercial release anywhere!
My Heart made chart history earlier this year when it entered at No. 9, making Day, 87, the oldest artist to score a new Top 10 entry in the U.K. pop chart. Dame Vera Lynn topped the British chart in 2009 at 92, but Lynn’s We’ll Meet Again was exclusively a retrospective, whereas My Heart premieres “new” studio material.
Some details have changed since the initial announcement of the album, but Day’s sentiment in assembling it remains true: “These songs all mean so much to me…They bring back happy memories of my friends who appeared on TV with me, my animal friends, and most of all, my [late] son Terry.” The Terry of whom she speaks is Terry Melcher, the producer and songwriter behind hits for The Byrds and The Beach Boys as well as some of Doris’ most notable recordings including “Move Over Darling.” Though Melcher died in 2004, some of his unheard productions recorded in the 1980s for the Doris Day’s Best Friends television series will be premiered on My Heart. (Click here for the full list!)
Eight songs in all are appearing for the first time. Four of those tracks were written by Melcher in tandem with Beach Boy Bruce Johnston, the team once known to pop listeners as Bruce and Terry. These include the title song, “The Way I Dreamed It” and a duo of songs that may be familiar to listeners, though not in these recordings. “Heaven Tonight,” which in Day’s version will be promoted as the album’s single, was recorded by Captain and Tennille, also longtime Beach Boys associates. The Beach Boys themselves performed “Happy Endings” with Little Richard, from the 1988 Whoopi Goldberg vehicle The Telephone.
Hit the jump for the updated run-down on the rest of the contents of My Heart, including remarks from Bruce Johnston about the album’s production! plus the complete track listing with discographical information and pre-order link! Read the rest of this entry »
Sentimental Journeys: Day and Vee Compilations Still on Track
It’s an inevitability in the catalogue world that, despite the best intentions of compilers, producers and labels, projects often get delayed.
Doris Day made headlines last week when the legendary actress, singer and animal rights activist gave a rare, lengthy interview to longtime New York radio personality Jonathan Schwartz for WNYC-FM and Sirius/XM Radio. In the interview, Day revealed an immense modesty about her impressive body of work. On August 19, we reported on a new collection sure to please Day’s fans. My Heart would commercially release the recordings made in 1985 with Day’s son, producer Terry Melcher, for the television program Doris Day’s Best Friends. These tracks saw her covering the likes of Paul Simon, John Sebastian, Elton John and Melcher associates Bruce Johnston and Mike Love, among other rock and pop luminaries. Sony/Columbia’s U.K. arm had planned on a late 2010 release of My Heart, but it’s since been confirmed that the album has been pushed back to a Spring 2011 release instead. A career-spanning box set, with the artist’s involvement, will likely follow by September 2011. While Bear Family’s complete Day box sets are exhaustive and essential, a more concise, less expensive set (especially containing unreleased material!) would undoubtedly be a welcome treat for Doris Day’s many fans around the world.
Even further back on July 6, The Second Disc was excited to share news of a two-CD, 61-track set compiling the best of 130 unreleased tracks by Bobby Vee confirmed to reside in the EMI vaults. Vee’s Rare and Unreleased Gems from the EMI/Capitol Vaults was initially slated for an October release, but it’s now going to make the perfect collection to kick off the New Year in reissues, with a scheduled U.K. release date of January 4, 2011. Amazon U.K. is currently listing the collection under the simplified title Rarities, but the tracks appear the same.
