Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Parts 1, 2 and 3 can be read here, here and here.) The seventh and eighth seasons of MTV Unplugged aired in 1996 and 1997, which were sort of its last years as a
The Weekend Stream: June 14, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week we've got it all, from Bakersfield country to Billy Joel on Broadway; actors who sing and singer-songwriters who act in short films; Tony Joe White going disco and Josh Groban's hits going super-size. You'll find something to love - we guarantee it! Wynn Stewart, Songs of Wynn Stewart (Capitol Nashville) (Apple / Amazon) After
A Second Disc Interview: Timothy J. Smith Forges a New Path with SuperVisible
If you've been reading The Second Disc for some time, you know that one of our highlights is The Weekend Stream, our spotlight of catalogue material that makes its way - either first or primarily - to streaming and download services. The TSD team has the shelves to prove our love of CDs or vinyl, but the joy of discovering a lost classic or future favorite from the past is what really drives us, and The Weekend Stream is run in that spirit. And it might not run at all if not for the help of one
Release Round-Up: Week of June 13
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Grateful Dead, Gratest Hits (Grateful Dead/Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Rhino assembles a single-CD or single-LP, nine-song Gratest Hits [sic] from Grateful Dead, marking the band's 60th anniversary with the original studio versions of such classics as "Truckin'," "Sugar Magnolia," and "Touch of Grey." Read
Where to Now, St. Peter? Elton John's RSD-Exclusive Rainbow Theatre Live Album Gets Wide Release
An archival live album from Elton John, released earlier this year for Record Store Day, is getting a wider release this summer. Live from the Rainbow Theatre with Ray Cooper will come back to LP as well as bow on CD and digital on July 25, featuring all 12 tracks from the original release plus one extra, a disc-closing rendition of "Goodbye." The British piano pop icon, who released the collaborative studio album Who Believes in Angels? with Brandi Carlile in April, curated the album, drawn
You Can't Sit Down: Craft Offers Rare Memphis Soul in Concert on 'Stax Revue: Live in '65!'
The Southern soul of Stax Records truly knew no boundaries. This summer, a classic instance of its staying power, recorded live in concert, will be revisited on a new 2CD/2LP set. Stax Revue: Live in '65! expands a pivotal pair of concerts undertaken at the 5-4 Ballroom in Los Angeles 60 summers ago when the Memphis label - newly bolstered by a distribution deal with Atlantic Records - took several of its marquee acts to the West Coast (many for the first time) for a spirited club set packed
Laughter in the Rain: "Sedaka's Back" Returns on CD, LP, Digital Formats
Near the end of their Grammy-winning, chart-topping 1975 rendition of Neil Sedaka and Howard Greenfield's "Love Will Keep Us Together," Toni Tennille threw in an ad-lib not written by lyricist Greenfield: Sedaka is back...! Indeed, the singer-songwriter who had begun his career in 1957 was enjoying a new string of successes including his own No. 1 that same year, "Laughter in the Rain." Tomorrow, Friday, June 13, Sedaka's own label will reissue the Rocket Records album which relaunched his
In Memoriam: Brian Wilson (1942-2025)
The passing of The Beach Boys' Brian Wilson on June 11, 2025 - just two days after the loss of another singular titan of '60s pop/rock, Sly Stone - obviously hits Team Second Disc and all our treasured readers hard. Here's a brief tribute from Mike to a man who could hear (and create) music like no other. There are really two things I want to get out of the way in talking, briefly, about Brian Wilson. I could go on at length about his raw talent: the ways every person on earth who's ever had
In Memoriam: Sly Stone (1943-2025)
"I am everyday people," boldly proclaimed Sly Stone on Sly and The Family Stone's 1968 chart-topping single. "I am no better and neither are you/We are the same, whatever we do/You love me, you hate me, you know me and then/You can't figure out the bag I'm in..." Using straightforward, direct language, a penchant for nonsense words that nonetheless carried weight (ooh-sha-sha, scooby-dooby-dooby, boom-laka-laka-laka), and the funkiest grooves ever to find their way to a vinyl platter, the
These Magic Moments: Omnivore Collects Doc Pomus Demos on New Box Set
Over a career spanning five decades, Doc Pomus - born Jerome Solon Felder in 1925 - penned some of the most memorable songs of all time: "Viva Las Vegas." "Save the Last Dance for Me." "Lonely Avenue." "Can't Get Used to Losing You." "Sweets for My Sweet." "This Magic Moment." "Hushabye." With hits performed by the likes of Ray Charles, The Drifters, Andy Williams, Dolly Parton, Bobby Darin, and, of course, Elvis Presley, Pomus' songs transcended genre and era. Bob Dylan dedicated his
The Kinds U Find in a Secondhand Store: Paisley Park Celebration Hints At Posthumous Prince Releases
This weekend's digital release of another unreleased Prince track could indicate the gears of the late artist's estate could start moving once again. At a panel for the annual Celebration fan event in and around Prince's hometown of Minneapolis and Chanhassen recording complex Paisley Park, representatives for the estate and distributing partner Legacy Recordings discussed potential box sets, vinyl releases and digital initiatives - as well as some frank discussion on the infamously-canned
The Weekend Stream: June 7, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week brings posthumous recordings by Prince and Donna Summer, a new spin on Star Wars disco, and plenty of cast recordings leading into the Tony Awards this Sunday! And just a quick programming note: our Unplugged series is taking the week off, but will be back with some new and exciting Weekend Stream extra content very soon! Prince,
Sky Fits Heaven: Madonna to Release Scrapped 'Ray of Light' Remix EP
The fitful reissues of Madonna's back catalogue (following an expansive deal to put her material under her original major label partner Warner Music) are yielding some choice archival fruit with the release of a long-rumored remix companion to her 1998 smash Ray of Light. The eight-track Veronica Electronica, coming to vinyl and digital music services on July 25, offers new edits of previously released dance remixes to hits like "Frozen," "Nothing Really Matters," "The Power of Good-bye" and
Release Round-Up: Week of June 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Dusty Springfield, Longing (Real Gone Music) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Real Gone Music premieres a lost album from Dusty Springfield: 1974's Longing. Produced by Brooks Arthur, the album features a number of singer-songwriter-oriented compositions including
Corner of the Sky: Real Gone's June Line-Up Includes "Lost" Dusty Springfield Album Plus Jazz, Heavy Metal, Bluegrass, More
As we roll into summer, Real Gone has another varied line-up for June. It is anchored by an unreleased album by Dusty Springfield but also features a jazz rarity from Joe Henderson and Woody Shaw as well as metal, bluegrass, and even an adult film soundtrack. All of these titles are being released tomorrow, June 6, and you can read on for more information. By the beginning of the 1970s, Dusty Springfield was at a career crossroads. Although she remained on her U.K. label home Phillips, she
Say You Will: New Ivy Album, Built from Unreleased Tracks, Due in September
Five years after bidding a too-early farewell to one of pop's most stalwart songwriters, a new album from his second-best remembered (but first major) band is coming, built off contributions he left behind. Traces of You, due September 5, is the first new album in a dozen years from alternative pop band Ivy. The news might come as a shock, as one of the group's charter members, bassist/songwriter Adam Schlesinger, died in 2020 - an early victim of the COVID-19 pandemic. Happily, as a gift
You've Got a Friend in Me: 'Toy Story' Songs Pressed on Zoetrope Vinyl for 30th Anniversary
We're not pulling your string: this year marks 30 years since Disney and Pixar rewrote the rules of animation with Toy Story. A new LP will collect nine tracks from all four of the films in the series since then - all from the pen of the one and only Randy Newman. Toy Story: Songs to Infinity and Beyond is a sonic love letter to the series, offering rare concept drawings and new art on the set's front cover and gatefold and a zoetrope vinyl pattern that features moving images of the series'
It Was Only Yesterday: Robinsongs Collects Soul-Jazz From Eddie Harris, Larry Carlton
Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint has been maintaining a busy 2025 schedule, with two new titles celebrating greats of jazz and soul. A 5 Classic Albums on 4 Discs collection from late saxophone titan Eddie Harris (1934-1996) offers all of Harris' albums for the Atlantic label originally released between 1974 and 1976 (with the exception of his album of off-color, spoken-word routines). Harris enjoyed a versatile career before signing with Atlantic in 1965. His first albums as a leader were
Splash City: Omnivore Celebrates Jeffrey Foskett on "Something There" Featuring Brian Wilson, Mike Love, America, More
Jeffrey Foskett surely embodied the California Dream. The San Jose native his dues gigging around the Golden State with such early bands as Reverie and The Pranks. A knock on Brian Wilson's door in 1976 led to a long friendship with the Beach Boy, while Wilson's cousin Mike Love became a Foskett fan three years later upon hearing Reverie live in a Santa Barbara bar. Love brought Foskett into the Beach Boys fold - first in The Endless Summer Beach Band, then in the Beach Boys themselves.
Soundtrack Watch: Bond Back on Vinyl At La-La Land, Intrada Unsheathes Kamen's 'Three Musketeers'
A new month kicks off with a bonanza of soundtrack reissues from La-La Land and Intrada - including more planned activity from the world of James Bond. La-La Land has made three archival titles available for sale from yesterday (June 1). First is a vinyl edition of their remastered CD of John Barry's score to Goldfinger. The third James Bond film (and the second to be scored by the British composer/arranger) scored big with the series' first-ever title theme, co-written by Barry, Anthony
The Weekend Stream Extra: A Guide to 'MTV Unplugged' on Paramount+ (Part 3)
Welcome to a special Sunday feature of The Weekend Stream, which takes a look at one of MTV's great live music programs thanks to a recent reissue of one of its best-known episodes. We're running a five-part deep-dive on every episode of MTV Unplugged that's currently streaming on the station's parent streaming network Paramount+! (Part 1 and 2 can be read here and here.) With rock music undergoing a transformation after the death of Kurt Cobain in 1994, MTV Unplugged continued to settle
The Weekend Stream: May 31, 2025
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc's review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We've got solo appearances aplenty: Bono, Al Jardine, Grace Potter, John Fogerty, and more new/old music - plus a new subscription service from Crowded House, a Barry Manilow music video, and a tribute to one of the undisputed guitar gods of his generation. Bono, Stories of Surrender EP (Island/Interscope/UMe) (Apple / Amazon) In 2023,
Young Blood: UFO's 'No Place to Run' Gets Reissued with Remixed Concert Audio
A transitional album in the discography of British rockers UFO will be revisited in a deluxe edition this summer. The band's eighth album No Place to Run, originally released in 1980, will be reissued as a 2CD or 3LP set on August 15. It pairs a new remaster of the original album created at London's AIR Studios alongside selections from a concurrent live set at the Marquee Club in London. Some of the live material was reissued as bonus tracks on various sets between 2009 and 2013, but has
After the Glitter Fades: Stevie Nicks, Wilco Classics Added to Rhino's High Fidelity Vinyl Series
Rhino's High Fidelity series of audiophile vinyl titles continues today with two (relatively) modern classics. Stevie Nicks' 1981 solo debut Bella Donna and Wilco's 1995 debut A.M. are the two albums in question, with both available now exclusively from Rhino.com and select international Warner Music Group online storefronts. Both albums are housed in old-style "tip-on" jackets; they've been newly mastered by Kevin Gray and pressed on 180-gram vinyl at Optimal. They're limited and numbered to
Release Round-Up: Week of May 30
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today. As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases. Grateful Dead, The Music Never Stopped (Rhino) 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 6LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada This live 3CD or 6LP compendium (also available digitally) from Grateful Dead to commemorate the band's 60th anniversary includes 27 tracks representing every one of the venues in the
- 1
- 2
- 3
- …
- 348
- Next Page »