Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up!

Todd Rundgren’s Utopia, Benefit for Moogy Klingman (Purple Pyramid) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Cleopatra Records’ Purple Pyramid imprint remembers Utopia’s late keyboardist with Benefit for Moogy Klingman. This 4-CD/2-DVD set (originally slated for May 15 but apparently shipping today) includes the band’s Highline Ballroom reunion set of January 29, 2011 (featuring Todd Rundgren, Moogy, Ralph Schuckett, John Siegler, Kevin Ellman, Jesse Gress, and Kasim Sulton) which helped defer the costs of Moogy’s cancer treatments, as well as the performance of November 18 (three days after Klingman’s passing) in Peekskill, New York in his honor.  Both concerts are on CD and DVD.  The audio is also available in digital/streaming formats.  Read more here.

Various Artists, NOW That’s What I Call Yacht Rock 2 (NOW/Sony/Universal) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The long-running NOW series releases its second volume of NOW That’s What I Call Yacht Rock on CD and in digital/streaming formats May 1, with a 2-LP vinyl set arriving on July 3.  This installment features eighteen songs from a host of favorite artists including Kenny Loggins (joined by Stevie Nicks for “Whenever I Call You Friend,” co-written by Loggins and Melissa Manchester), Michael McDonald (“I Keep Forgettin'”), Toto (“I’ll Be Over You”), and Little River Band (“Reminiscing”). They’re joined by Seals & Crofts (“Summer Breeze”), Chicago (“If You Leave Me Now”), Elvin Bishop (“Fooled Around and Fell in Love”), Paul Davis (“I Go Crazy”), Gerry Rafferty (“Baker Street”), REO Speedwagon (“Keep on Loving You”), Captain and Tennille (“Love Will Keep Us Together”), and many more.  Read the full track listing and more here.

Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner, We Found It / Please Don’t Stop Loving Me / Say Forever You’ll Be Mine / Porter and Dolly (BGO) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

BGO has four more albums from Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner on one 2-CD set, this time with Porter and Dolly’s final four collaborative LPs from 1973-1975 and 1980.  As usual for BGO, the release is slipcased and features a booklet with new liner notes.

Gerry Beckley, Van Go Gan / Go Man Go: The Van Go Gan Remixes (America Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

America’s Gerry Beckley has revisited his 1995 solo album and its 2000 follow-up/companion disc of reimagined tracks in a new deluxe edition on 2 CDs.  While singer-songwriter Beckley played most of the instruments himself, Van Go Gan features guest appearances by Jeffrey Foskett, Hank Linderman, Dewey Bunnell, Timothy B. Schmit, Jason Scheff, Richie Cannata, Carl Wilson, Robert Lamm, and others.

Various Artists, Friends [Soundtrack] (Reprise) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Friends soundtrack gets a colored vinyl pressing.  The album features The Rembrandts’ “I’ll Be There for You” theme in both long and short versions; an exclusive remix of Joni Mitchell’s “Big Yellow Taxi;” and tracks from Lou Reed, k.d. lang, Hootie and the Blowfish, The Pretenders, Paul Westerberg, and others.

Georgia Stitt, A Quiet Revolution (Concord) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Composer-lyricist Georgia Stitt returns with a new album of original songs intended to “speak to our divided country and inspire us to come together.”  That’s a tall order, but Stitt is up to the task with the help of friends including Joshua Henry, Sutton Foster, Jeremy Jordan, Brandon Victor Dixon, Norm Lewis, Emily Skinner, Jessica Vosk, and Betsy Wolfe.  Stitt collaborated with producer Jeffrey Lesser (Rupert Holmes, Sparks, Strawbs) on this striking song suite.

From The Second Disc family to all of you, we wish you health, comfort, and safety during these difficult times. –  Joe, Mike, Sam, and Randy