Bananarama, 30 Years of Bananarama (Rhino U.K.) The U.K. division of Rhino compiles the best of the “Venus” hitmakers in this CD/DVD package out today in the U.K. and next week stateside! Read more here. The Beat, I Just Can’t Stop It/Wha’ppen?/Special Beat Service (Demon/Edsel) The complete studio output of The Beat (or The English Beat, if you prefer) gets the deluxe reissue treatment in the U.K. from Edsel as 2-CD/1-DVD sets chock-filled with extra material! Don’t miss our review of
Review: Carly Simon, "Spoiled Girl: Expanded Edition"
The title of Spoiled Girl had a knowingly ironic resonance for Carly Simon. A scion of the Simon and Schuster publishing firm (her father was founder Richard L. Simon), Carly was considered by some to be a "spoiled girl." In fact, that couldn't have been further from the truth, despite a somewhat privileged upbringing. Yet here she was, mockingly singing of a woman who "thinks of nothing but herself," the kind of gal who sends her chauffeur to supply more bubbles for her bath! 1985's Spoiled
I Feel Good (All Over): Dance All Weekend Long with Kent's "Cleethorpes Northern Soul Weekender"
Though we've come to expect delightful and deeply soulful compilations from Ace's Kent label, one of Kent's latest is a particular trip: a trip, in fact, to the Cleethorpes Northern Soul Weekender. The 6Ts Rhythm and Soul Society has been throwing these bashes on a yearly basis since 1993, offering up plenty of dancing and some of the best names in soul music, among them Doris Troy, Barbara Lewis, Tommy Hunt, Bettye LaVette and Maxine Brown. Kent's The Cleethorpes Northern Soul Weekender,
A Heart in New York: Art Garfunkel Anthology "The Singer" Due In August with Two Unreleased Tracks
When the singer’s gone, let the song go on… Jimmy Webb wrote those words for the unlikely rock star by the name of Arthur Garfunkel, a former architecture student endowed with a purity of tone and the ability to pierce the heart. And thankfully, both the singer and the song remain very much alive today. Garfunkel, of course, was the yin to Paul Simon’s yang, the Tom to his Jerry. It’s most appropriate, then, that he will bookend his old friend with a new anthology coming on August 28 from
You Just Can't Walk Away: The Dells Come "One Step Closer" On New Reissue
It can be fairly said that no group in popular music has had a run quite like that of The Dells. The mighty Chicago group, founded in 1952, can boast a line-up of five – Mickey McGill, Verne Allison, Marvin Junior, Chuck Barksdale and Johnny Carter – that didn’t change between 1960 and 2009, the year of Carter’s passing! Such longevity has meant that The Dells have prospered through numerous musical trends, only altering the instrumentation around their velvet vocals. Cherry Red’s SoulMusic
Review: Jellyfish, "Live at Bogart's"
When Jellyfish's Live at Bogart's was recorded on February 21, 1991, did anybody realize that neither the band nor the venue were long for this world? On December 2, 1993, The Los Angeles Times lamented the closure of the Long Beach, California club, calling it a "mighty blow" to the local music community. Yet Bogart's actually outlasted the first iteration of the band that hailed from miles up north in the San Francisco Bay Area. Andy Sturmer (drums/vocals), Roger Joseph Manning Jr.
Let There Be Drums, Again: Sandy Nelson Invites You To A "Big Sixties Frat Party!!!"
One could certainly make a case that the 1960s was the prime time for the rock instrumental, with The Ventures, The Marketts, Booker T. & The MGs and The Fireballs just some of the groups behind the decade’s hit melodies. Of the music-making individuals who were, well, instrumental in sending wordless tunes up the charts, few are as beloved as Sandy Nelson. Ace Records has previously anthologized the drummer’s explosive work on Rock ‘n’ Roll Drum Beat (Ace CDCHD 586) and Sandy Nelson’s
Review: Aretha Franklin and James Brown, Reissued By BBR
In today’s reviews, we’re looking at three albums from two true legends of soul. What do they have in common? Each title has been reissued by Big Break Records, and each found its respective artist conquering new terrain: the pop music world of the 1980s! Aretha Franklin, Jump to It (Arista AL-9602, 1982 – reissued Big Break Records CDBBR 0154, 2012) Each era of Aretha Franklin’s long and remarkable career has gotten some catalogue love lately, from the artist’s first days at Columbia
Review: "Album Produced By: More Of My Roller Coaster Life" by Bruce Kimmel
At The Second Disc, we're (literally) all about reissues! But none of the titles we cover daily would be possible without the efforts of the producers who select the bonus tracks, commission the liner notes, oversee the remastering and pull the packaging together. And that's just the tip of the iceberg! We have endeavored to spotlight the protean work of this select group of individuals, and have been grateful for the opportunity to conduct interviews with some of the finest in the business,
"The Very Best Of" Jazz: Concord Launches New Series With Davis, Rollins, Coltrane and More
If you've ever felt it might be a daunting task to "get into" jazz, Concord Music Group just might have the perfect releases for you. Concord is home to many of the genre's greatest labels, including Prestige, Contemporary, Riverside, Milestone, Fantasy and Pablo. With the new series simply titled The Very Best Of, the Concord team has offered an affordable, entry-level look into five of the most influential musicians of all time: Miles Davis (trumpet), John Coltrane (tenor saxophone), Sonny
They Walk The Line: Johnny Cash Celebrated By Crow, Nelson, Kristofferson, Plus Four New Compilations Due
Much like the train Johnny Cash so often sang about, the celebration of what would have been his 80th birthday year rolls on. Following the issue of Bootleg IV: The Soul of Truth earlier this year, Legacy Recordings has just announced the CD/DVD and Blu-ray releases of We Walk the Line: A Celebration of the Music of Johnny Cash. Due on August 7, these preserve the concert held on Friday, April 20, 2012 at Austin, Texas’ Moody Theater in which a wide-ranging roster of musicians paid homage to
Short Takes: Neil Young's Budget Box Set, The Latest from Heart, and Incubus Goes Live
What's the contender for the title of Longest-gestating Music Box Set? That dubious honor would have to go to Neil Young's Archives, Volume 1, bandied about since the 1980s and not released until 2009. Available as 10 Blu-rays, 10 DVDs or 8 CDs, Archives provided an immersive journey deep into Young's vaults, and it picked up a Grammy Award for Art Direction in 2010. In conjunction with the massive box (supposedly the first of five such sets), Young has branded a number of his catalogue
Expanded "Green Onions" Coming From Booker T. & The MGs
Concord Music Group continues its Stax Remasters series by dipping into the label's early days with a bona fide R&B classic. The title track of Booker T. & The MGs' 1962 Green Onions is still instantly recognizable today from appearances in television (American Dad) and film (X-Men: First Class), and was in May 2012 inducted into the Library of Congress' prestigious National Recording Registry. On July 24, the original Green Onions album will be reissued and expanded with two bonus
Cleveland (Still) Rocks: Ian Hunter "Complete Singles Collection 1975-83" Released By 7Ts
What do Great White, The Presidents of the United States of America and Barry Manilow have in common? Why, Ian Hunter, of course. The former Mott the Hoople frontman provided those three with enduring songs, respectively, “Once Bitten, Twice Shy,” “Cleveland Rocks” and “Ships.” The career of the singer and songwriter is being celebrated by Cherry Red’s 7Ts label with the release of Ian Hunter’s Singles Collection 1975-83. This 2-CD set compiles all 29 sides released by Hunter as a solo
Don't Cry For Julie Covington: Baroque-Pop "Beautiful Changes" Remastered and Reissued
Before Elaine Paige, before Patti LuPone, there was Julie Covington. The singer/actress was the first to sing the role of Evita in the Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical, introducing “Don’t Cry For Me, Argentina” on the 1976 concept album and scoring a No. 1 single in the U.K. the following year with the song. Musical theatre aficionados might also know Covington from her roles in Godspell and Guys and Dolls or even another concept album, War of the Worlds. But Covington also recorded some
Jiminy Cricket! Two Leigh Harline Scores Paired On New CD
Those who wished upon a star for more music from Leigh Harline are in luck. The Academy Award-winning composer of “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Walt Disney’s 1940 Pinocchio, had a distinguished career in Hollywood until his death in 1969 at age 62. Kritzerland is celebrating Harline’s career with a new two-for-one CD of the great man’s scores. The Wayward Bus is making its world premiere, while The Enemy Below is returning to print after an absence of many years. Both titles are
Of Weasels, Hot Rats and Lumpy Gravy: Some Zappa Reissue Questions Answered
Ever since news broke of Universal's upcoming series of Frank Zappa reissues, there have been as many questions as answers regarding this hotly-anticipated catalogue campaign. Although the first thirteen titles, chronologically representing 1966's Freak Out! through 1971's Just Another Band From L.A., don't arrive until July 31, a trickle of information has already been released by Gail Zappa, Frank's widow and the representative of the Zappa Family Trust. Gail Zappa has taken to answering
Dinah Shore, Songs of James Taylor Feature on Upcoming Masterworks Broadway Reissues
After a brief sabbatical, Masterworks Broadway has taken another dive into its vaults, with its first round of disc-on-demand/digital reissues since February. The label was hardly idle, however, delivering releases from Julie Andrews and Carol Burnett, and Liza Minnelli as deluxe CDs in the ensuing months, and preparing the new Broadway Cast Recording of Evita. This summer, however, Masterworks will turn its attention to two classic recordings from the 1950s and one with a more contemporary
Bend Them, Shape Them: Amen Corner "Complete Deram Recordings" Out From RPM
Turn on an American oldies radio station today and it shouldn’t be too long before you hear The American Breed’s “Bend Me, Shape Me,” a Top 5 hit in 1968. Across the pond, however, the song unequivocally belongs to Amen Corner. The Welsh outfit didn’t last long, but in a jam-packed two year period, Amen Corner produced six hits and three albums on two labels: Deram and Immediate. The Deram years have just been collected in full on RPM’s new Round Amen Corner: The Complete Deram Recordings. The
Baby, It's Burt: Cherry Red's Él Label Collects Early Bacharach On "Long Ago Last Summer"
Although Burt Bacharach had been composing songs at least since 1952, when he kicked off a long career with the instrumental “Once in a Blue Moon” for Nat “King” Cole, the Burt Bacharach “sound” didn’t truly crystallize until the early 1960s. Prior to his reshaping of the sound of adult R&B, Bacharach teamed with a variety of lyricists to craft songs in virtually every genre imaginable: rock-and-roll, rockabilly, country, pop balladry, jazz, even the novelty song. Naturally, the earliest
Review: Omnivore's Legends of Music and Comedy, Buck Owens and Ernie Kovacs
In the pantheon of American comedy legends, you’d likely find Ernie Kovacs, the gifted, gone-too-soon (1919-1962) personality who carved out a niche in the early days of American television. Joining Ernie in that esteemed company might well also be Buck Owens (1929-2006), the influential guitarist and songwriter who made a second career out of joking, a-pickin’ and a-grinnin’ on the cornpone television variety show Hee Haw. However different these two gentlemen are, however, Omnivore
Positively 4th Street: Bob Dylan's First "Greatest Hits" Goes Gold
When Bob Dylan’s Greatest Hits first appeared on record store shelves in March 1967, it was Dylan’s first offering since the previous year’s Blonde on Blonde double-LP opus and subsequent, well-publicized motorcycle accident. Although the 10-track Columbia Records set has since been superseded by numerous other compilations from the Bard of Hibbing, Dylan’s first ever Greatest Hits captures the moment in time when there was arguably no more influential songwriter. On July 3, the original Dylan
Review: The Beatles, "Yellow Submarine" on Blu-Ray and DVD
Picture yourself in a boat on a river…with tangerine trees and marmalade skies… Now, picture the evocative imagery of The Beatles’ most mind-bending lyrics transferred to a silver screen world where imagination and wonder run rampant. The result might be something like the 1968 animated film Yellow Submarine. Out of print for some time on DVD, Yellow Submarine has just returned to DVD and Blu-Ray (5099962146098) in a painstakingly restored new edition from Apple Corps and
Short Takes: McCartney Readies "Rockshow," Rundgren's Live "Healing", Jay and the Americans' "Magic Moment" Revisited
As we kick off another week, we're catching up with a few news items that almost slipped between the cracks! Earlier this year, RockBeat and S'More Entertainment released Todd: Live, preserving on both CD and DVD editions a live performance by Todd Rundgren of his 1974 classic album Todd. But Todd only told half of the story! Joined by Utopia's Kasim Sulton (bass), The Cars' Greg Hawkes (keyboards), The Tubes' Prairie Prince (drums), Guitar Player Magazine's editor Jesse Gress (guitar),
Review: Deluxe Editions from Everything But The Girl
The band’s name is Everything But The Girl, but the reissue campaign might as well be titled Everything But the Kitchen Sink. Over the course of four 2-CD sets, the Edsel label has crafted a comprehensive, definitive retrospective of Tracey Thorn and Ben Watt’s early years as merchants of cool, sophisticated and literate pop. EBTG’s first four albums, originally released on the Blanco Y Negro label, have each been granted the deluxe treatment with an additional disc of non-LP singles, B-sides,
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