- Our inimitable alt-rock flame-keeper friends at Slicing Up Eyeballs point us toward a trail of additional Morrissey rarities leading up to the 20th anniversary reissue of his excellent compilation Bona Drag. It seems that early single "Everyday is Like Sunday" is going to be reissued on CD and 7-inch vinyl, and will include some interesting bonus tracks. Both vinyl singles include live renditions of "Sunday" from the Hollywood Bowl in 2007 and The New York Dolls' "Trash" from 1991, while the CD single will include Moz's version of "Sunday" from Top of the Pops in 1988 as well as "November the Second," a long-sought-after vintage dance mix of "November Spawned a Monster" that Morrissey seems to have stopped hating enough to release. The singles will be released alongside the expanded compilation on September 27.
- Ronnie James Dio's Facebook page has announced that there will finally be some catalogue love for the late, great metal god. "Our first release from the Niji Entertainment Group will be a 2 CD set of never before released live Dio from 1983 and 1987!" the page updated on Friday. The set will be available on October 26.
- A special thanks to The Second Disc's own Miss Disc for this tip: it looks like Walt Disney Records may be prepping another reissue of the soundtrack to Beauty and the Beast. The score, composed by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, was integral to the success of the film in 1991 (the score and title theme both won Oscars), and looks to be put back on CD on September 14, in advance of Disney's premiere Blu-Ray release of the film. No word on bonus content (the 2002 reissue of the soundtrack included a new tune worked into an IMAX re-release of the film plus three demos), but given Disney's general aversion to soundtracks on CD (neither the Oscar-winning score to Up nor the acclaimed Toy Story 3 got such treatment), this is some good news.
- Finally, some bittersweet news: reports are coming in that the Living It Up box set by Level 42 is inappropriately mastered and badly packaged. Universal evidently has plans to issue replacements on the defective discs. Thanks to super reader Phil Cohen for pointing this out and informing the reissue community.
News Round-Up: More Morrissey, Live Dio, A Change at Disney and More
Mike Duquette
Michael Duquette (Founder) was fascinated with catalog music ever since he discovered there was more than one version of John Williams' soundtrack to E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial. A 2009 graduate of Seton Hall University with a B.A. in journalism, Mike paired his profession with his passion through The Second Disc, one of the first sites to focus on all reissue labels great and small. His passion for reissues turned into a career, with bylines on catalog at Discogs, City Pages and Ultimate Prince and credits on titles including the Grammy-winning 'Squeeze Box: The Complete Works of "Weird Al" Yankovic.' Born and raised in New Jersey, Mike lives in Astoria, Queens with an ever-expanding collection of music.
Release Round-Up: Week of February 19
Living It Up: Level 42 Preps Box Set of Early Polydor Material
Release Round-Up: Week of March 20
Release Round-Up: Week of August 29
As For the "Level 42-Living It Up" box set, the problem is that Disc One/tracks 1,2,7,8 & 9 were mastered in a mono sound derived from the left channel-only of a stereo mix. Universal had a similar screw up on the first pressing of the Europpean 3-CD set "Level 42-The Ultimate Collection II"(a dance remix collection) in which many of the tracks on "Disc Two" were rendered in unintended mono sound. Universal DID do a corrected pressing, though there was no system in place to exchange bad discs(I returned my original set, then tried buying the set again a year later).
Interestingly, original(now ex) Level 42 drummer Phil Gould tried bringing the problem(with the "Living It Up" box) to the attention of the compiler, and the compiler absurdly tried to deny that there was any problem. A quick check with headphones undeniably reveals that there IS a problem. And, as Level 42 discography website owner Paul Waller revealed to me, Universal has screwed up Level 42 CD's numerous times, including a compilation of the budget "Spectrum" label where one song("Kansas City MIlkman") stops suddenly at the halfway point(as if someone had pushed the "Stop" button when playing the tape), and the 2-CD "Running in The Family"/"Staring at The Sun" "two-fer" where what was supposed to be "To Be With You Again"(A.D.S.C. mix)(I.E. the 12" mix) was actually the B-side "To Be With You Again"(Dub). And then there was the "True Colours"/"World Machine" two-fer, where some sets had an incorrect label(for another artist "Meshugge") on the "True Colours" disc, though the disc did play Level 42's music.
The box set packaging is the book-shaped package first seen on the Salvo label's 4-CD sets by The Move & Peter Green. While it's not my favorite type of packaging, I'm not amongst those who have complained about it. Each side of the book stores two discs; one overlapping over the other. Pushing a side button will release each disc, though to remove the disc underneath, you must also remove the disc on top. Getting the discs securely back into the package is slightly tricky. Be sure that the discs are securely back in the package before closing the book. My own slight grievance about this type of package is that it tends to damage the first and last page of the booklet.
I believe that "beta testing" reissues may be necessary these days. The hardcore fans will easily be able point out errors and deficiencies.
I encountered an error like this with last year's "All Together Now: The Very Best of the Farm" on the budget UK label Music Club Deluxe.
The track listing states that you get "Love See No Colour (Single Mix)" on Disc 1 and the very different "Love See No Colour (Album Version)" on Disc 2. However, BOTH discs contain the identical "Single Mix," which means you're paying for the same song twice.
I e-mailed the label, but never heard back. Since it's a budget label anyway, and since I'm probably one of the few people in the known universe who cares about The Farm, I just let the issue drop. There's now way they're going to do another pressing for me and the two other people who bought the album. 🙂