Features / Release Round-Up

Welcome to this week’s Release Round-Up, featuring a selection of the new titles available today including – did we ever think we’d get the chance to say this? – the CD debut of Buckingham Nicks!  As an Amazon affiliate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

Buckingham Nicks (Rhino)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. (gold) / Amazon U.K. (baby blue) / Amazon Canada (gold)

In just over 15 years of reporting at The Second Disc, it’s a sentence we never thought we’d write: Buckingham Nicks is getting its first-ever reissue.  The 1973 album from Lindsey Buckingham and Stevie Nicks – recorded and released two years before their pivotal acceptance into British rock band Fleetwood Mac – finally returns on CD, vinyl and digitally. Unavailable since its original release, this straight reissue of the album marks the first significant professional thaw since Buckingham was dismissed from Fleetwood Mac in 2018.   This release – mastered from the original analogue tapes by Chris Bellman – marks the first time the album has officially been available on CD or digitally. Bellman also cut lacquers for the standard vinyl re-pressing, available on gold wax for Amazon U.S. and baby blue for Amazon U.K. customers.  While no bonus tracks have been included, the album is likely to sound better than ever in this long-overdue digital-era premiere. Read more here.

Anne Murray, Here You Are (EMI Music Canada) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Canadian chanteuse Anne Murray’s 33rd studio album – and first album of original material in over 15 years – arrives on U.S. shores September 19.  Here You Are brings together eleven previously unreleased recordings made between 1978 and 1995, as curated by executive producer Bob Rock and mixed by Adam Greenholtz.  Original producers include Jim Ed Norman, Jerry Crutchfield, Ed Cherney, and Kyle Lehning, while songwriters represented include Steve Dorff (“Heaven in My Heart”), Hugh Prestwood (“Here You Are”), Kerry Chater (“Feels Like More Than Dancing”), Bryan Adams (“Straight from the Heart”), and Alan O’Day (“Catch My Breath”).  If you thought “they don’t make’em like they used to,” Here You Are is just what you’re looking for: a collection of lush, beautifully sung, and immaculately produced “shoulda been” hits from one of pop’s most distinctive voices. Available on CD, LP, and digitally.

The Cowsills, The “Cocaine Drain” Album (Omnivore) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Cowsills’ legendary 1978 Cocaine Drain album – so named for John Hall’s composition – finally makes its official debut from Omnivore Recordings, filling in the missing chapter between the band’s sunshine pop roots and latter-day Americana reinvention.  Cocaine Drain was originally helmed by Chuck Plotkin, but when Bruce Springsteen and Darkness on the Edge of Town came calling, Val Garay took over to sequence, master, and finish the project.  Yet the recordings were never picked up by a major label and languished in obscurity, with some songs appearing in semi- or completely unofficial form.  Omnivore has reassembled the complete album (featuring songs by Bob Cowsill, Buzz Feiten, Wendy Waldman, and John Hall) and added five bonus tracks from the original sessions.  Michael Graves has mastered and restored the recordings, and Bob Cowsill and Brett Milano round out the package.  Available on CD and digital formats.

Art in America, Art in America (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Our good friends at Iconoclassic has remastered and expanded the 1983 debut album from Art in America.  The progressive rock group – the first-known rock outfit to include a concert pedal harp as part of their core lineup! – teamed with Eddy Offord (Yes, ELP) for the CBS/Pavillion album which yielded the hit single and early MTV favorite “Art in America.”  This reissue has been expanded with two previously unissued live tracks (“Won’t It Be Strange,” “Insult the Fashion”) and has been remastered from the original tapes by Vic Anesini.  And that’s not all from Art in America…

Art in America, Rise (Iconoclassic) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Art in America returns with a belated follow-up to the band’s 1983 debut.  Rise will be instantly recognizable to fans of the group, featuring Shishonee Flynn’s Lyon & Healy pedal string harp as well as such eclectic instruments as tambura and koto.  Shishonee and lead singer/guitarist/songwriter Chris Flynn are joined by drummer Dan Flynn and bassist/producer Jim Kuha.  These nine tracks originated in 1983 as demos for an abortive second album; in 2017, the recordings were transferred to the digital domain and then remixed, resulting in this release – a once-lost treasure, now found, from these progressive titans.

Jim Croce, The Definitive Croce (BMG)

CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada
LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada

The Definitive Croce gathers both albums the late Jim Croce recorded and released for ABC Records during his lifetime (You Don’t Mess Around with Jim and Life and Times) plus the posthumous I Got a Name – all recently remixed by engineer Paul Hicks (whose mixing and mastering work includes projects by The Beatles, John Lennon, Paul McCartney and George Harrison). All three were previously released on vinyl in similar color schemes to the upcoming vinyl package – bone white for Mess Around, sky blue for Life and Times and tangerine for I Got a Name – but this is these mixes’ first CD release. Both CD and LP formats will be housed in trifold sleeves showcasing the original album covers on the inside. Read more here, and don’t miss Mike’s interview with Jim’s son AJ Croce here!

Ray Charles, Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul (Tangerine) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Ray Charles’ 1963 potpourri Ingredients in a Recipe for Soul makes it first official appearance on vinyl in decades and also returns to CD in this remastered reissue featuring the original album sequence only.  Tracks include “Busted,” “That Lucky Old Sun,” “Over the Rainbow,” and “You’ll Never Walk Alone.”

Charley Pride, Endlessly: A Tribute to Brook Benton (Music City) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The late Charley Pride recorded this tribute to velvet-voiced soul crooner Brook Benton in the mid-1980s, but it went unreleased.  Now, Pride’s estate has unearthed his original recordings which were co-produced by Bob Pickering and recorded not in Nashville but in Dallas; Pickering has mixed and mastered them for this release which celebrates what would have been Benton’s 94th birthday on September 19.  (He died in 1988 at the age of just 56.) The label notes that “Other than digitally transferring, mixing and mastering the original multi-track performances, virtually no other post-production has been applied–no instrumentation has been added and no trendy artificial intelligence has been used to modify or enhance Charley’s vocals or the recordings in any way.”  Available on CD and digital formats.

38 Special, Milestone (38 Special) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

Milestone is 38 Special’s first studio album since 2004’s Drivetrain, and pairs the band once again with old friend and collaborator Jim Peterik (The Ides of March, Survivor) as well as Randy Bachman (The Guess Who, BTO) and Train’s Pat Monahan. Filled with original songs in the band’s rocking tradition, Milestone is available on CD, LP, and digital formats.

The Divine Comedy, Rainy Sunday Afternoon (Divine Comedy Records) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The Divine Comedy is back with their first studio album since 2019 featuring a new complement of songs by Neil Hannon fresh off his success writing the score to the hit film Wonka.  Available on CD, LP, and digitally.

Nine Inch Nails, Tron: Ares (Interscope) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

NIN is back with a full-length soundtrack to the upcoming Disney film TRON: Ares featuring 24 tracks and over 70 minutes of music.  This marks the band’s first album since 2020 and Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ first film score under the NIN name.  Available on CD, LP, and digital formats.

The Devil Wears Prada: Original West End Cast Recording (Interscope) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada)

The musical version of The Devil Wears Prada is currently packing houses in London’s West End at the cavernous Dominion Theatre with Vanessa Williams as the fearsome Miranda Priestly.  Now, Elton John brings his score (co-written with lyricists Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick) to CD, LP, and digital formats.  Two of Elton’s original demos (“I Mean Business” and “The Devil Wears Prada”) are included as bonus tracks on the CD, and Lauren Weissberger (author of the original novel) pens the liner notes for the booklet which also contains lyrics.  Note that the limited 180-gram red vinyl release only has 12 of the 18 songs and also lacks the two bonus demos.  The CD and LP are due today in the U.K. while the CD is shipping October 3 from Amazon U.S., with the vinyl edition to follow on October 17.