Hell yeah, he did. Billboard reports that Grammy Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Neil Diamond has departed Columbia Records after a forty-plus-year association, and has brought his back catalogue to Capitol Records, now part of the Universal Music Group. The surprise move comes just a few months following the release of Diamond’s Classic Christmas Album, the latest in a string of recent archival projects from Diamond, Columbia and Legacy Recordings including the Grammy-nominated
There's No Place Like Oz: Sepia Celebrates 75th Anniversary of "The Wizard of Oz" With New Rarities Anthology
When L. Frank Baum published his novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz at the turn of the century in 1900, could the author have ever possibly imagined that his characters would still be known by virtually every man, woman and child some 114 years later? Much of that success, however, is attributable to MGM's lavish, Oscar-winning 1939 musical film adaptation which immortalized Judy Garland as Dorothy along with Ray Bolger, Jack Haley and Bert Lahr as, respectively, The Scarecrow, The Tin Man and
Billy Paul Is "Feelin' Good" On BBR Reissue Of His First Studio Album
Big Break Records and Billy Paul - they've got a thing going on. The label, an imprint of the Cherry Red Group, has just returned to the soul titan's catalogue for the sixth time - and with this release has gone back to the very beginning. BBR's previous reissues from the "Me and Mrs. Jones" singer have explored his Philadelphia International discography as well as his Neptune release Ebony Woman and a post-PIR album for Total Experience Records. Now, the label has turned its attention to
Everybody Loves Somebody: New "Playlist" Wave Includes Ronnie Spector, Simon and Garfunkel, Journey, Dean Martin, More
It’s a new year, and that means a new crop of Playlist titles from Legacy Recordings! As in the past, this crop of releases runs the gamut, with a number of titles including rare or new-to-CD material and others relying on the tried and true. The artists represented also encompass a wide variety of genres. Fans of classic rock-and-roll and pop will find plenty to enjoy on a career-spanning disc from Ronnie Spector and a reissue of the vintage Greatest Hits album of Simon and Garfunkel, while
Get Ready: Tommy Hunt's "Sign of the Times" Revives Northern Soul Favorites
Trivia: who was the first artist to release Burt Bacharach and Hal David's "I Don't Know What to Do with Myself" in 1962? Hint: it wasn't Dusty Springfield (1964) or Dionne Warwick (1966). The answer is Tommy Hunt, onetime member of The Flamingos and a member of the Scepter Records family between 1961 and 1964. At Scepter, Hunt introduced both that now-classic song and scored hits like "Human" (No. 5 R&B/No. 46 Pop, 1961) and "I Am a Witness" (No. 71 R&B, 1963). Hunt followed his
Omnivore Spotlights Memphis Soul and Funky Fusion On Upcoming Reissues
Cold weather got you down? Omnivore Recordings is heating things up with a pair of gems – hidden no more – due on March 11. The label will bring a lost Memphis classic from artist Sid Selvidge (and Big Star producer Jim Dickinson) to CD for the first time in over two decades, along with a funk-filled fusion excursion courtesy of Bayeté, a.k.a. Todd Cochran (writer of Santana’s “Free Angela”). Though born in Mississippi, singer-guitarist Sid Selvidge was a fixture on the Memphis music scene
Rhino Gives The Royal Treatment To The King and Queen of Soul with New Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin Box Sets
Rhino is kicking off February’s Black History Month in a big way – with two new box sets dedicated to undisputed R&B royalty, Aretha Franklin and Otis Redding. On February 4, the label will release the 4-CD collections The King of Soul and The Queen of Soul, and despite the wealth of sublime soul music on these sets, both titles are priced with an eye to the budget-conscious. As of this writing, the Otis set is available at Amazon U.S. for $33.62, and the Aretha set for $34.05...or less
John Addison's "Joseph Andrews" Is Kritzerland's First Release of 2014
Upon its release, movie posters heralded the 1977 film Joseph Andrews as "the story of a young, English footman who served the Lady Booby but loved the little Fanny." Just in case anybody still wasn't sure about exactly what the ribald film offered, the poster was illustrated with an image of the titular character surrounded by two ladies against the backdrop of a third, with a rather ample bosom. Joseph Andrews was a belated thematic sequel to 1963's Tom Jones, and like that film, it was
If You've Got It, Flaunt It: Stage Door Records Brings "Privates on Parade" To CD
Reviewing The Michael Grandage Company’s 2012 production of Peter Nichols’ play with music Privates on Parade, critic Charles Spencer summed up the feelings of many of his colleagues when he called the production “gloriously entertaining and often deeply touching.” Nichols’ semi-autobiographical 1977 play drew on his own experiences as a young British serviceman with Combined Services Entertainment, providing song and dance to the country’s Armed Forces. Now, Stage Door Records is bringing the
BBR "Heats It Up" with Salsoul Orchestra, Joe Bataan, Herbie Mann, Chris Jasper
As Big Break Records' first releases for 2014 hit stores in the U.K. today (more on those shortly!), the time is right to take a look at more from the label's closing slate of 2013. This eclectic roster - from legendary Latin music artist Joe Bataan, the post-Vince Montana iteration of The Salsoul Orchestra, jazz flautist Herbie Mann and soul man Chris Jasper - is doubtless one of BBR's strongest. So influential was Joe Bataan's 1974 Mericana Records release Salsoul that it literally
Only the Strong Survive: Ace Reissues, Remasters Vintage Southern Soul from Stax, Fame
The mighty Stax Records catalogue got a lot of much-deserved respect in 2013, from a new book exploring the label's history (Robert Gordon's Respect Yourself: Stax Records and the Soul Explosion) to a variety of catalogue projects, many from the venerable Ace Records label. Ace has recently followed up its reissues of classic albums by The Staple Singers, David Porter and Bettye Crutcher with further Stax discoveries from Darrell Banks and The Newcomers. And not to be outdone, Ace has
SoulMusic Goes "Loco" with Expanded Reissues From Dee Dee Warwick, The Four Tops
Dee Dee Warwick signed with Mercury Records’ Blue Rock imprint in 1964, the same year her sister Dionne solidified her place in the upper reaches of the charts with songs like “Walk on By,” “Reach Out for Me” and “You’ll Never Get to Heaven (If You Break My Heart).” Though Dee Dee never saw the same kind of commercial success as Dionne, she carved out a unique vocal identity with her dark, bluesy and intense tone. At Mercury, Dee Dee recorded two albums and a number of singles. In 2012, Soul
"Catch the Love Parade" With Second Volume of Now Sounds' "Book a Trip"
Between 1965 and 1970, Los Angeles’ Capitol Tower – standing then, as it does now, near the intersection of Hollywood and Vine - was the place to be. Capitol Records had The Beatles, and the Beach Boys, too. But the label that Nancy Wilson and The Lettermen called home also hosted a number of bands with groovy names like The Tuneful Trolley, The Sugar Shoppe, The Pink Cloud, The New Kick and (my personal favorite) The Unforscene. These happening acts, and many more, take the spotlight on Book
Meet the Inspiration Behind "Llewyn Davis" with Dave Van Ronk LP Reissue
When this year’s Golden Globe nominations were announced, three of the coveted nods went to Joel and Ethan Coen’s Inside Llewyn Davis, a vibrant portrayal of the heady days of New York’s Greenwich Village when anyone with a guitar and a dream had a chance to be heard and perhaps “make it big.” Oscar Isaac, a nominee for Best Performance by an Actor – Comedy or Musical, portrays the titular character, a misanthropic, nomadic folkie (and former Merchant Marine) with a proclivity for misplacing
From Brigadoon to Dogpatch, USA: Masterworks' Slate Features Robert Goulet Musicals, "Li'l Abner," "Virginia Woolf"
It might be a typical day in Dogpatch, USA, but it’s far from a typical one around these parts, for Sony’s Masterworks Broadway imprint has unveiled its first three releases of 2014 – each one a rare album never previously available in the compact disc/digital era. Next Tuesday, January 14, Masterworks will reissue the Original Motion Picture Soundtrack to the movie musical Li’l Abner, arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle. Next month, on February 18, comes the spoken-word Original Broadway
Shall We Dance: Fred Astaire's "Early Days at RKO" Collects Vintage Sides On 2 CDs
Today, more than 25 years after his passing, the name of Fred Astaire still instantly conjures up a world of top hat, white tie and tails; of sheer elegance, easygoing charm and abundant grace. His enduring talents have recently been celebrated by Sony’s Masterworks label and Turner Classic Movies on the latest in their series of joint CD releases, Fred Astaire: The Early Years at RKO. (Previous titles have been dedicated to Doris Day and Mario Lanza.) This 2-CD, 37-song anthology spans the
Come Into Their World: Dance Classics From The Emotions, Foxy Arrive On BBR
We have plenty of news coming your way from Big Break Records as the Cherry Red soul specialists have closed out 2013 and already announced plans for 2014 in a big way. Before we dive into recent releases from Joe Bataan, The Salsoul Orchestra, Chris Jasper and Herbie Mann, we wouldn’t want you to miss two recent disco-flavored releases from The Emotions and Foxy! The BBR label welcomes The Emotions, appropriately enough, with the R&B girl group’s 1979 album entitled Come Into Our World.
Todd's Blues: Rundgren's Live "Johnson" Captured On CD/DVD Set
When Todd Rundgren’s Johnson was released in April 2011, the singer-songwriter’s longtime fans were forgiven for greeting the album with surprise. While Toddheads have been trained to expect the unexpected, Johnson was a departure from even the artist’s most outré projects. It was Rundgren’s first-ever all-covers album, and its subject wasn’t a songwriter whose influence was readily apparent in Rundgren’s own music. (At various points in his career, a tribute to Laura Nyro or Kenneth Gamble,
High Moon Rising: Reissues From Gene Clark and Arthur Lee's Love Now Available For Pre-Order
At long last, High Moon is rising. Yesterday, on January 2, the long-aborning record label revealed on its Facebook page that pre-orders were being taken for the label's CD releases of Gene Clark's Two Sides to Every Story and Love's Black Beauty. We've closely followed the High Moon story here at The Second Disc, from the label's initial announcements in Spring 2011 through an optimistic status update almost two years ago on January 30, 2012. Deluxe, 180-gram vinyl LPs arrived for both titles
Here Where There Is Love: Edsel Repackages Sixteen Dionne Warwick Albums In Four Sets
Following last year’s series of 23 expanded reissues of Dionne Warwick’s Scepter and Warner Bros. catalogue from WEA Japan, the U.K.’s Edsel label is revisiting 16 of those very albums on four new, multi-CD sets. Each one of Edsel’s sets will contain four original stereo albums in chronological sequence, with two of the new titles adding singles and retaining bonus tracks originally introduced on Rhino Handmade’s expanded reissues. The titles, due in stores on January 13, are as
The Year in Reissues: The 2013 Gold Bonus Disc Awards
Welcome to The Second Disc’s Fourth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! Though this is a slow time of year for news, it’s the perfect time to look at the year in review. As with every year’s awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year’s most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate those labels, producers and artists who make these releases possible in what many might deem an increasingly-challenging retail landscape. These labels have bucked the
Happy Holidays From The Second Disc
‘Twas the night before Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring…not even The Second Disc. It’s that time of year, folks, where we hope you’ll be spending time with your loved ones, looking back on the events of the past twelve months, and looking forward to a happy, healthy and fulfilling 2014. Watch this space for some special surprises coming up soon…and rest assured that we’ll be back on a regular posting schedule in the first full week of the New Year with even
Kritzerland Promises Swashbuckling Adventure With Elmer Bernstein's "The Buccaneer"
Kritzerland’s final release of 2013 is sure to be one of its most talked-about. Today, the label announced an expanded and remastered CD presentation of Elmer Bernstein’s score to The Buccaneer. The 1958 Paramount Picture starred the King of Siam himself, Yul Brynner, opposite Claire Bloom, Charles Boyer and Charlton Heston in a rip-roaring adventure tale loosely based on real life and set during the War of 1812. Director Anthony Quinn’s film was a remake of Cecil B. DeMille’s 1938 movie of
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, "The South Side of Soul Street"
The trusty musical archaeologists at the Omnivore label have the perfect stocking stuffer for those looking for a little bit of southern soul hung by the chimney with care. The 2-CD anthology The South Side of Soul Street (OVCD-68, 2013), collecting the A- and B-sides of 20 singles released by the Minaret label between 1967 and 1976, makes the argument that Valparaiso, Florida’s Playground Recording Studio deserves to be spoken of in the same breath as Muscle Shoals, American Sound, Stax and
Holiday Gift Guide Review: "Here's Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection"
In one of the many testimonials that enhance the booklet to the first-ever DVD release of Here’s Edie: The Edie Adams Television Collection, Carl Reiner may have put it best and most succinctly: “Edie Adams...a combination of beauty, brains and talent...what else do you need?” Based on the evidence in this thoroughly delightful 4-DVD, 12-hour, 21-episode set now available from MVD Visual (MVD 59200), you don’t need anything else. Adams just about had it all, and showed it off for the 1962-1964
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