With Buffalo Springfield confirmed to play Bonnaroo and a fall tour still a possibility, Neil Young and Stephen Stills have a busy few months ahead. Well, David Crosby and Graham Nash aren't ones to sit around waiting on their bandmates. The venerable harmonists are the latest artists to take the indie route and have announced the formation of Blue Castle Records. Its first release will arrive March 22 to coincide with their upcoming tour as a duo. On that date, Crosby and Nash will reissue
Reissue Theory: Bobby Darin, Compiled: "The Motown Years"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on great albums and the reissues they could someday see. At the time of his untimely death in 1973, Bobby Darin was signed to Motown Records, where he recorded one solo LP and enough material for a posthumous second LP. Despite their high quality, Darin's Motown recordings have long been unavailable. Today's Reissue Theory takes us back to 1970 and the final chapter in the life of the great Bobby Darin. Bobby Darin was so much
Hollies "Lost Recordings" Box Coming from Sundazed
The Hollies have long existed in the shadow of Graham Nash's other band - you know, the one with two or three other initials. But the lineup of Nash, Allan Clarke, Tony Hicks and Bobby Elliot plus Eric Haydock or Bernie Calvert could be equally potent. And lately, The Hollies have been recipients of a lot of well-deserved love. First came last year's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, and then Sundazed kicked off a vinyl campaign reissuing two of the band's hardest-to-find American
Back Tracks: Buffalo Springfield Reunion Special
“Used to play in a rock ‘n roll band, but they broke up. We were young and we were wild, it ate us up,” lamented Neil Young in the song “Buffalo Springfield Again” from his 2000 album Silver and Gold. “I’d like to see those guys again, and give it a shot. Maybe now we can show the world what we’ve got. But I’d just like to play for the fun we had.” Some 11 years later, Young’s wish may be coming true. On February 10, Rolling Stone carried a headline for which fans had waited years: “Exclusive:
Friday Feature: "Born Free"
Remembering his great friend John Barry upon the composer's recent death, lyricist Don Black regaled the press with stories of the "blunt-spoken Yorkshireman" with his divine gift of music. Black relished the tales of Barry's epic battle with Barbra Streisand which led to the mercurial composer's departure from Streisand's The Prince of Tides and his succinct rebuke to producer Harry Saltzman on the producer's criticism of his theme song for Diamonds Are Forever: "What the f--k do you know about
King, Taylor and Fellow "Troubadours" Arrive on DVD with Bonus CD
Morgan Neville’s 2010 film Troubadours: The Rise of the Singer-Songwriter is nothing if not ambitious. A participant in the Sundance U.S. Documentary Competition, Troubadours functions as a dual biography of Carole King and James Taylor, as well as the story of Doug Weston’s club on Los Angeles’ Santa Monica Boulevard that gave rise to King, Taylor and so many others. Their 2007 reunion and subsequent tour in 2010 provides the framework for the film. Yet moreover, it touches on the entire
How "Cool" Is New Dean Martin Box Set?
Don't move those Bear Family boxes over quite yet, Dean Martin fans. Between 1997 and 2001, the German label issued four remarkable boxes collecting virtually every note ever recorded by Dean Martin not only for Capitol and Reprise (his two most famous label associations) but for Diamond, Embassy, Apollo, Warner Bros. and MCA. So what could a new box offer to collectors and fans? On June 7, Hip-o will release a two-CD box set dedicated to the perennially cool singer and swinger in a hardcover
"Monument"al Orbison Singles Collection Coming from Legacy
April 23, 2011 would have marked the 75th birthday of Roy Kelton Orbison. The perpetually cool, sunglass-clad, big-voiced singer, a.k.a. Lefty Wilbury and The Big O, may have died in 1988, but he left behind a rich catalogue recorded for on a variety of labels including Sun, RCA and MGM. However, it was at Fred Foster's Monument label, also an early home to Dolly Parton and Ray Stevens, that Orbison introduced most of his signature songs. Many of these were achingly vulnerable and even
Elmer Bernstein Duo and "Gone with the Wind" Musical Coming from Kritzerland
Frankly, my dear, the Kritzerland label has given us even more reasons to give a damn. On Monday morning, the label announced its latest releases: the first-ever CD release of the Original London Cast Recording of Gone with the Wind, the 1972 musical written by composer/lyricist Harold Rome (Wish You Were Here, Fanny, Pins and Needles) and librettist Horton Foote (To Kill a Mockingbird, Tender Mercies, The Trip to Bountiful), along with a two-on-one CD presenting Elmer Bernstein’s scores to Fear
Judy, Judy, Judy: Garland's "Carnegie Hall" Original LP Arrives on CD in 2012
Of the 3,165 audience members at Carnegie Hall on the evening of Sunday, April 23, 1961, just how many of them realized that they were witnessing musical history when Judy Garland took the stage? While most probably came to that realization by evening's end, surely all 3,165 knew by the time Capitol released its recording. Judy at Carnegie Hall remains one of the most acclaimed, beloved albums of all time, live or otherwise. Capturing Garland at her artistic peak, the lavish double-LP spent 95
Capitol to Make Beach Boys Fans "SMiLE" This Summer?
When it comes to The Beach Boys, I've learned to take any news with a decidedly big grain of salt. But some "news" is just too good not to pass on. In an interview with Jeremy Roberts of Examiner.com, Al Jardine revealed that "Capitol Records plans to issue a Beach Boys version of 'Smile' [sic] sometime this summer to begin the celebration of The Beach Boys' [50th] anniversary." Could a release of the original "most famous unheard album in pop history" actually happen? When it comes to The Beach
When Matt Met Hoagy: Rare Monro LP Reissued in U.K.
The success story of Matt Monro is one unlike any other. The singer, born Terence Edward Parsons in London in 1930, had recorded for both Decca and Fontana, and sang regularly on the BBC, but the brass ring eluded him. Then, in 1960, EMI producer George Martin was seeking a voice to spoof Frank Sinatra’s on a Peter Sellers comedy album cheekily titled Songs for Swinging Sellers. Martin hired Matt Monro, and billed him under the very Sellers-esque pseudonym of “Fred Flange.” Well, the “Flange”
Review: Tim Buckley, "Tim Buckley"
When Tim Buckley is discussed today, it's most often in the context of his son Jeff, and the eerie similarities between the lives of father and son, both of whom died at tragically young ages. So Rhino Handmade's expanded two-CD remaster of Tim Buckley's debut (Rhino Handmade RHM2 526087, 2011) isn't just a celebration of a folk-rock classic, but a stunning reminder of his talent on its own considerable merits. Tim Buckley's eponymous debut remains a haunting work by a haunted man. Yet like
Dionne, Natalie, Nancy Reissues Coming from Soulmusic Label
Cherry Red's got soul. Mike and I reported last week on the impressive slate planned by Cherry Red's Big Break Records label. A smaller yet equally rich line-up is on the way from another Cherry Red division, Soulmusic.com Records.On February 14 in the U.K. and one week later stateside, the label will reissue five classic albums from a trio of accomplished vocalists: Nancy Wilson, Dionne Warwick and Natalie Cole. Perhaps most exciting is the two-on-one CD release of Wilson's 1974 Capitol
New Neil Diamond Compilation: How Much Bang for Your Buck? (UPDATED 2/2)
Come this March, Neil Diamond won't be such a solitary man. Diamond will find plenty of stellar company when he’s inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame on March 14. While Diamond has maintained his superstar status in both the recording studio and the concert stage for 45 years, chances are that the recordings he made for Bang Records between 1966 and 1968 were foremost on voters’ minds when choosing to induct the singer into the venerable hall. It’s during this period that Diamond
Friday Feature: "Almost Famous"
Thank you, Cameron Crowe. You had me at "hello." You cost me plenty, but my record collection has long been grateful for the education! The integration of popular song and cinema has been around as long as the talking film itself, since the day Al Jolson prefaced his performance of "Toot, Toot, Tootsie (Goodbye)" with the epochal dialogue "Wait a minute, wait a minute, you ain't heard nothin' yet!" These lines from 1927's The Jazz Singer, the first feature-length "talkie" in which
Reissue Theory: Cher, "A Woman's Story: The Warner Bros. Years"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Before Madonna, before Lady Gaga, there was Cherilyn Sarkisian LaPiere Bono, better-known as Cher. Today, we look at a largely forgotten period of the diva's career, now entering its sixth(!) decade. Cher's latest hit song may be titled "You Haven't Seen the Last of Me," but really, who thought we had? We listeners don't need a modest little Diane Warren
Aretha Opens "The Great American Songbook"
Can't wait for that massive 11-CD/1-DVD box set, Take a Look: Aretha Franklin Complete on Columbia? Or maybe you're just looking for the perfect Valentine's Day gift? Either way, Legacy may have the disc for you. Next Tuesday, February 1, will see the under-the-radar release of Aretha Franklin's The Great American Songbook from Columbia/Legacy, compiling 18 of the tracks from that massive box set on one CD. Oddly, this release features the same cover art as the upcoming box, not due for
Short Takes: Soundtracks on Tap from Barry, Horner and Mancini
It's already been a busy week here at Second Disc HQ, and the news just keeps on comin'. Three more soundtracks are due from some of the finest composers in film score history: John Barry, James Horner and Henry Mancini. Before becoming an eminence grise in the world of film scoring, John Barry was best-known as the leader of the John Barry Seven, an association which led him to one of his earliest film projects, the score to the 1960 British film Beat Girl. The long-unavailable soundtrack to
Review: The Jayhawks, "Hollywood Town Hall" and "Tomorrow the Green Grass"
"Please don't call it 'alt-country!'," pleads The Jayhawks' archivist P.D. Larson in the liner notes to the new Legacy Edition of the band's fourth album, 1995's Tomorrow the Green Grass. But whatever you call it, the uniquely American music of the Jayhawks has endured, and is currently being celebrated by American Recordings and Sony/Legacy with two deluxe reissues produced by Larson and John Jackson. The band's major label debut from 1992, Hollywood Town Hall, has been expanded with a clutch
Sail On, Silvergirl: "Bridge" Returns for 40th Anniversary Edition (UPDATED 1/22)
“Bridge Over Troubled Water” began as Paul Simon’s “humble little gospel hymn song.” But upon its release, it quickly took on a life of its own. Simon’s inspirational words and music, Art Garfunkel’s spine-tingling vocal and Larry Knechtel’s majestic piano all contributed to a work that resonated deeply, as a both an epitaph for the 1960s and a reassuring affirmation for a new decade’s beginning. Believe it or not, “Bridge Over Troubled Water” is 40 years old; what’s hard to grasp isn’t that
More of Melba: Moore's Epic Debut Due from BBR
By 1978, Melba Moore had already established herself as a multifaceted musical force. After making her Broadway debut as Dionne ("White Boys") in the original Broadway company of Hair, she picked up a Tony Award in 1970 for her performance in Purlie, where she introduced the showstopping "I Got Love." In 1978, she was starring in New York opposite the legendary Eartha Kitt in Timbuktu! and ready to resume her solo recording career. With stints on the Mercury and Buddah labels behind her, she
Reissue Theory: Sammy Davis, Jr., Compiled: "Sammy in the Seventies"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, here we reflect on well-known albums of the past and the reissues they could someday see. Today, we look at a beloved American icon and one of the least anthologized periods of his lengthy career. There may be no figure in American popular culture more maligned in death than Sammy Davis, Jr. The image of the diminutive entertainer, clad in open shirts and bell-bottoms, wearing beads and gold chains, and with an ever-present cigarette dangling
From "Walter Mitty" to "Inner City": Masterworks Broadway Reissues Due
Sony’s Masterworks Broadway division continues its dig through the vaults of the Columbia and RCA Records labels with three new titles, to be released as CD-Rs exclusively through Arkiv Music or as digital downloads. Today, January 18, sees the reissue of Originals – Musical Comedy 1909-1935, an RCA compilation dating from 1968. This collection remains one of the best ever to anthologize the sound of musical comedy in its earliest days, and is a “Who’s Who” of that golden era. The vaudeville
Be Their Baby: Legacy Preps Releases for Crystals, Ronettes and Darlene Love (UPDATED 1/17)
When Sony announced in September 2009 that rights had been acquired from EMI Music Publishing to reissue Phil Spector's Philles catalogue after years of neglect from the ABKCO label, great anticipation was in the air. A major campaign was planned by Sony's Legacy division with projects in development including "Artist's Playlists, Best-of collections, and first-ever releases of Philles studio rarities - as well as facsimile reproductions of original singles and albums," but since that heady
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