Longtime readers of The Second Disc know that Real Gone Music is one of our favorite reissue labels.  And the level of dedication from the Real Gone team brings a silver lining to what would otherwise be an update as to a long-delayed title.  Back in February, the Real Goners announced the March 27 release of The Complete Scepter Singles of B.J. Thomas, the “Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head” and “Hooked on a Feeling” hitmaker.  March, of course, came and went, and as of June 6, this eagerly-anticipated title still hasn’t arrived.  But that’s all about to change!

On June 19, The Complete Scepter Singles will arrive in stores and even better than expected.  Here’s the story, straight from Real Gone’s email newsletter: “Shortly after we sent out the press release and started production, we discovered that, while stereo recordings for the album versions of B.J.'s singles were easily accessible, the tapes were missing for most of B.J.'s original mono singles. We then embarked on a worldwide search for those single tapes - worldwide because the Scepter label has had a lot of owners over the years, and sometimes the tapes have been left behind as ownership transferred. Well, we're happy to say our work paid off - we found a good number of tapes stashed in various vaults over the globe, and the result is all but two of the 46 tracks come from tape, and the other two -including, for the first time ever on CD, the long stereo version of 'Rock and Roll Lullaby' - are seamless disc dubs made from mint copies [of the original singles].”

In short, June 19 will bring the first-ever anthology to include the Texas-raised singer’s original single mixes (38 mono, six stereo) including all nineteen of his chart hits.  In addition, the first 50 customers to order The Complete Scepter Singles from Real Gone will receive a booklet autographed by Thomas himself.   (Customers who previously ordered the title from the label will receive a booklet, as well).

But that’s not all.  Real Gone’s release of the self-titled album from The Germs has also received an “upgrade,” so to speak!  Hit the jump for details!

Real Gone enlisted Pat Smear, current Foo Fighters guitarist and former guitarist for The Germs, for the liner notes to its reissue of 1979’s Joan Jett-produced album (GI).  Smear clued the Real Gone crew into the existence of an unreleased track from the original album sessions engineered by Jett, "Caught in My Eye," that had been withheld from release as a potential single. The Real Gone newsletter picks up the story: “We checked with the licensor, Rhino, and, sure enough, there were a lot of versions of that song in the vaults. So, we figured, one of those had to be the right version, right? So, we announced the inclusion of the bonus track, designed the art (and got some killer Jenny Lens photos to add to the package along with lyrics and liner notes), and were ready to roll when we got the bad news - all that was in the vault was the Chris D. remix of the song that had appeared on an earlier Germs compilation! Forehead...meet wall.  But then, right before we were about to scrap the art and announce to the world that we goofed, we got a call - Rhino had discovered a track on their tape logs that looked like it could be the one we were looking for. We had them send it over via email, and it sounded great to us, definitely different from the previous remix. But it still awaited the true test: Pat's blessing. So we sent it over to him and sure enough, it's the real deal!”

The Germs’ (GI) is in stores now, complete with “Caught in My Eye.”  It can be ordered here, while the June 19 release of B.J. Thomas’ The Complete Scepter Singles can be pre-ordered at this link or right here directly from Real Gone!