While The Second Disc prides itself on connecting people to reissues and box sets they can keep on their shelves, it's no secret that listening audiences are also digital - catalogue music lovers, too - and our passion is connecting people to music from the past that they might adore. So we've introduced a new feature: The Weekend Stream, which focuses on hidden gems that recently made it to digital channels that might make your playlists a little brighter!
John Coltrane, A Love Supreme: The Platinum Collection (Impulse!/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
Coltrane's legendary album was certified platinum this week - no small feat for a jazz LP - and to celebrate, this new digital edition offers the ultimate listening experience: the original stereo album, mono reference mixes and outtakes issued in a definitive 2015 box set, and two live performances of the record - one from Paris in July 1965 (released in a 2002 deluxe edition) and another from Seattle in October of that year (recently released on its own).
Shakira, Laundry Service: Washed and Dried (Expanded Edition) (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
Already a sensation in Latin America, Shakira aggressively pushed for U.S. crossover success with 2001's Laundry Service, and got exactly what she was looking for: a triple-platinum album with two worldwide Top 10s in "Whenever, Wherever" and "Underneath Your Clothes." For its 20th anniversary, the previously-released "Washed and Dried" edition featuring three remixes now comes with a fourth - a mix of "Whenever, Wherever" commissioned for the Colombian legend's performance at the Super Bowl LIV halftime show in 2020.
Foster the People, Torches X (Deluxe Edition) (Columbia/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
One of early '10s pop radio's slowest-burning success was the moody dance-pop nugget "Pumped Up Kicks," a track by Foster the People (a passion project for a jingle writer named Mark Foster). It spent eight straight weeks at No. 3 on the Billboard Hot 100 in 2011 and enabled Foster to pursue a different type of music for money. A decade later, the album's been greatly expanded on digital and vinyl with 10 non-LP tracks and remixes (including "Downtown," written and self-released by Foster before securing a record deal).
Otis Redding, (Sittin' on) The Dock of the Bay (Remixed) (Atlantic/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
Rhino's continued 80th birthday series of Otis Redding remixes continues with a four-track EP featuring Redding's signature song - recorded days before his 1967 death in a plane crash and the first posthumous recording to top the Billboard Hot 100. DJ Reg West's mix strips the song down to little more than vocals and Booker T. Jones' piano, while DJ Spinna takes the track in a more spacey direction; instrumentals of each round out the offering.
The Four Aces, A Merry Christmas with The Four Aces (Extended Edition) (Geffen/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
Known for close-harmony, high-charting renditions of standards like "Three Coins in the Fountain," "Mr. Sandman" and "Love is a Many-Splendored Thing," The Four Aces took up the Christmas spirit on their second long-player in 1955. In addition to 15 unforgettable carols, this version of the album also includes two sides of a 1958 holiday single: "The Christmas Tree" and "Ol' Fatso."
Van Der Graaf Generator, Still Life (Deluxe) / Live At Maison de La Mutualite, Paris, 6th December 1976 (Virgin/UMe)
Still Life: Amazon / Spotify
Live At Maison: Amazon / Spotify
Influential British prog outfit Van Der Graaf Generator recently boxed up its entire output for the Charisma label from the early '70s into a lavish, 20-disc box set. From that set come these two digital releases: a deluxe edition of the band's 1976 effort Still Life (featuring both the original stereo mix of the album, a new mix by engineer Stephen W. Taylor and tracks from John Peel sessions) and a lengthy live concert recorded the same year in Paris.
The Cranberries, Analyse (Geffen) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
Though not a hit in the U.S. (and parent album, 2001's Wake Up and Smell the Coffee, was their first not to go gold in the States), "Analyse" is a fine track from Irish rockers The Cranberries that will make you miss departed frontwoman Dolores O'Riordan more than you already might. This digital EP includes two edits of the track plus a pair of new-to-digital cuts from a 2001 gig, including a cover of Elvis Presley's hit "In the Ghetto."
Johnny Winter, White, Hot & Blue (Blue Sky/Columbia) (iTunes / Amazon / Spotify)
The penultimate LP from the silver-haired blues legend for the Blue Sky/Columbia label family, 1979's White, Hot & Blue found Johnny Winter (along with his brother Edgar on keyboards and sax) moving further back to traditional blues after spending much of the decade mixing his six-string style with more traditional rock offerings.
Big Joe Turner, The Boss of the Blues Sings Kansas City Jazz / Rock & Roll / The Atlantic Albums (Warner Music/X5)
Boss: Amazon / Spotify
Rock & Roll: iTunes / Amazon / Spotify
Atlantic Albums: Amazon / Spotify
Legendary blues shouter Big Joe Turner helped invent what we now call rock and roll with a brace of singles that landed primarily on the soul charts (like his chart-topping composition "Shake, Rattle and Roll"). By the time the long-playing record took hold of the recording industry, Turner would sign to Atlantic, working with swing and boogie-woogie players (like pianist Pete Johnson) to showcase the roots of rock as white audiences started to embrace it. Turner's first two of five Atlantic LPs (1956's The Boss of the Blues and 1957's Rock'n Roll) are now available digitally, while a 60-track compilation offers all of Turner's recordings for the label.
Jackie Gleason, Music Around the World for Lovers Only / How Sweet It Is for Lovers / Romeo and Juliet / Come Saturday Morning (Capitol)
Around the World: iTunes / Amazon / Spotify
How Sweet It Is: iTunes / Amazon / Spotify
Romeo: iTunes / Amazon / Spotify
Saturday: iTunes / Amazon / Spotify
How sweet it is, indeed! The Great One parlayed his acting success into a successful side career as a curator of "mood music" for entertaining events. The result: seven No. 1 albums, including 1952's Music for Lovers Only, which spent an unprecedented 152 weeks in the Top 10 of Billboard's chart. These four LPs were among his last, featuring all sorts of entertaining instrumental standards from the recent past: "Strangers in the Night," "The Shadow of Your Smile," "On a Slow Boat to China," "For Once in My Life," "Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head" and many more. All suitable for a lovely night in, here or to the moon.
Joe Mac Pherson says
Regarding the expanded album of Torches X (Deluxe Edition) by Foster The People:
If this was issued in the CD format, I'd buy it immediately, no hesitation. I've listened to this band, buying their music since the time when all they had was a single release; no album was out yet. I own the original, limited Australian 2 CD edition of Torches. I've seen them in concert in L.A. as well as Tempe, Arizona. I have a poster as well as music signed music by them, including the Japan issue of Supermodel, with an exclusive bonus track.
Yes, this band makes music that matters to me.
And yet, this new release will never be bought by me, because it's not on CD. That's the way it goes...