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/ Joe Marchese

We Have Heaven: Rhino Reissues, Expands Yes' "Fragile" with New Mixes

May 15, 2024 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Yes Fragile

Rhino is following last year's Super Deluxe Edition of 1971's The Yes Album with a similar set for the prog legends' fourth album. Fragile arrived later that same year, introducing Rick Wakeman as keyboardist and kicking off a new era of Yes history. The upcoming box set, due on June 28, follows the same 4CD/1LP/1BD format as The Yes Album, featuring Steven Wilson's newly remastered and remixed audio, rare and previously unreleased live and studio tracks, and a Dolby Atmos mix. Fragile was

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets, CD, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Rock Tags: Yes

I'll Love You Forever: 7a Reissues, Expands Davy Jones' "Incredible!" Album

May 13, 2024 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Davy Jones Incredible

Davy Jones' "lost" album, Incredible!, is finally seeing a wide, authorized release from our friends at 7a Records.  This Friday, May 17, the label will issue the album on both CD and limited edition, 180-gram, LP pressed on blue vinyl. Incredible! has taken on almost mythical status among Monkees collecting circles.  Jones recorded the original 10-song set at the height of the '80s wave of Monkeemania when new fans were discovering Davy, Mickey, Peter, and Mike through MTV, syndication, and

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Vinyl Genre: Pop Tags: Davy Jones

Beautiful Music: Barry Manilow's "Live in Britain" Returns to CD

May 7, 2024 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Barry Manilow Live in Britain

Barry Manilow hasn't been resting on his laurels. In recent months, the superstar entertainer saw his musical Harmony finally make it to Broadway, continued his record-breaking residency in Las Vegas, sold out New York's Radio City Music Hall, and announced from the stage of Carnegie Hall that he had re-entered the studio at the instigation of Clive Davis to record Peter Allen and Dean Pitchford's anthem "Once Before I Go" for a new single on which he collaborated with producer Babyface. Manilow

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Pop Tags: Barry Manilow

What's So Funny: Cherry Red, Lemon Collect Brinsley Schwarz Albums on "Thinking Back"

May 6, 2024 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Brinsley Schwarz Thinking Back

Brinsley Schwarz, the band, may be best-remembered today as the launching pad for singer-songwriter Nick Lowe and as a prime exemplar of the U.K. pub rock scene.  The band's studio albums, though, reveal diverse influences and a vibrant sound that more than holds up today.  In recent months, Cherry Red's Lemon Recordings imprint brought together the band's seven albums plus more than 60 bonus tracks on the whopping 7-CD box set Thinking Back: The Anthology 1970-1975. Guitarist Brinsley

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Brinsley Schwarz, Ian Gomm, Nick Lowe

Makes Me Feel Fine: Rhino's New Quadio Batch Includes Seals and Crofts, Roberta Flack, Donny Hathaway, Hot Tuna

May 3, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Quadio Bundle 4

Not long after the release of Joni Mitchell's Quadio box set - making her the third artist to have an entire Quadio box dedicated to her, after Chicago and The Doobie Brothers - Rhino has just announced the fourth round of Blu-ray titles in the four-channel surround format  Donny Hathaway's Extension Of A Man, Hot Tuna's Burgers, Roberta Flack's Killing Me Softly, and Seals & Crofts' Summer Breeze are all available now, as newly remastered from the original four-channel quadraphonic master

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray Audio Genre: Blues, Classic Rock, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Donny Hathaway, Hot Tuna, Roberta Flack, Seals and Crofts

Dreamland: Joni Mitchell's "The Asylum Albums (1976-1980)" Arrives in June

April 30, 2024 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

Joni Mitchell The Asylum Albums 1976 1980

Hot on the heels of the release of Joni Mitchell's The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) in "Quadio" quadraphonic surround, another entry in the singer-songwriter's acclaimed Archives series is on the way.  On June 21, The Asylum Albums (1976-1980) will arrive on 5 CDs, 6 LPs, and digital formats, completing this chapter of Mitchell's extraordinary career. Whereas 1972-1975 represented the peak of Mitchell's hitmaking years, 1976-1980 captured her in innovative, experimental mode.  Following the tour

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Jazz, Pop Tags: Charles Mingus, Joni Mitchell

Rock and Roll Heart: Omnivore Celebrates Joe Grushecky with Career Anthology, New Album

April 29, 2024 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Joe Grushecky Houserocker

The title of the 1979 debut album from Joe Grushecky and The Iron City Houserockers proclaimed Love's So Tough.  The Pittsburgh native and his band captured their city's blue-collar milieu, recalling a harder-edged E Street Band.  The group took their sound an expansive step further with 1980's Have a Good Time But Get Out Alive!, a bar-band classic which welcomed guests including Ian Hunter, Mick Ronson, and Stevie Van Zandt.  That album introduced "Pumping Iron" which quickly became the band's

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Rock Tags: Joe Grushecky, Joe Grushecky and the Iron City Houserockers

Rolling Stock: "Starlight Express" Returns to Vinyl to Celebrate New London Production

April 25, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Starlight Express Zoetrope

Andrew Lloyd Webber first became interested in adapting Reverend W. Aubry's Thomas the Tank Engine stories in 1974.  A pilot episode for a proposed television series was produced but ultimately not picked up.  But the Jesus Christ Superstar and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat composer didn't give up on the idea of musicalizing a story with trains.  He took a step towards that goal with the 1977 single "Engine of Love" for American singer Earl Jordan, and then developed an animated

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Frances Ruffelle, P.P. Arnold, Ray Shell, Stephanie Lawrence

Slow Dancin': Cherry Red, Esoteric Return to Anthony Phillips' "Slow Dance"

April 24, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Anthony Phillips Slow Dance

If you missed out on the 2017 Esoteric/Cherry Red expanded reissue of founding Genesis guitarist Anthony Phillips' 1990 Slow Dance, you're in luck.  The label has just reissued Slow Dance as a 2CD set, dropping the DVD component but otherwise replicating the earlier package at a lower price. Slow Dance, a two-part orchestral suite, was recorded by Phillips in 1988 and 1989.  The follow-up to Tarka, his collaborative album with Harry Williamson, Slow Dance became Phillips' first "proper" solo

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Everything Else Tags: Anthony Phillips

Hungry Freaks, Daddy: Zappa and The Mothers of Invention's 1968 Whisky A Go Go Show Arrives in June

April 22, 2024 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Zappa Whisky 1968

Fans of the early days of Frank Zappa and The Mothers of Invention have good reason to, well, freak out!  On June 21, Zappa Records and UMe are heading back to those heady days on the Sunset Strip for Whisky A Go Go, 1968, a new collection available on three CDs or five 180-gram black vinyl LPs as well as in 2LP "highlights" form.  The complete release will also be available digitally in high-resolution. Even in the relatively early days of his recording career, Frank Zappa was thinking

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Frank Zappa

Shadows and Light: Joni Mitchell's Asylum Albums Go Quadio

April 18, 2024 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Joni Mitchell Quadio

Joni Mitchell has had quite the year, stopping the show at the Grammy Awards (did anybody watching not shed a tear?), reinventing "I'm Still Standing" at the Gershwin Prize celebration of Elton John and Bernie Taupin, and preparing for her Los Angeles concert return with sold-out, hotly-anticipated Joni Jams at the Hollywood Bowl in October. Today, Rhino announced one more jewel in Mitchell's crown. Her 2022 box set The Asylum Albums (1972-1975) has been reissued with a twist: all four albums

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray Audio, Box Sets Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: Joni Mitchell

I'm Doin' Fine Now: "Groove Machine: The Earl Young Drum Sessions" Spotlights Philly Legend

April 15, 2024 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Earl Young Groove Machine

Kenneth Gamble, Leon Huff, and Thom Bell might have been The Mighty Three, but dozens of musicians joined them in shaping The Sound of Philadelphia.  That triumvirate's lush, lithe productions were brought to life by the loose aggregation of players known as MFSB, or the house band at Sigma Sound Studios.  These are the same musicians who went on to form The Salsoul Orchestra under the baton of Vincent Montana, Jr., including Norman Harris, Ronnie Baker, Bobby Eli, Ron Kersey, Lenny Pakula,

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Archie Bell and the Drells, B.B. King, Double Exposure, Dusty Springfield, Earl Young, Eddie Holman, Gamble and Huff, Harold Melvin and The Blue Notes, Loleatta Holloway, New York City, The Delfonics, The O'Jays, The Spinners, Thom Bell, William DeVaughn

Sweet Dream: Jethro Tull Expands Live "Bursting Out" In New "Inflated Edition" Remixed by Steven Wilson

April 11, 2024 By Joe Marchese 18 Comments

Jethro Tull Bursting Out

Jethro Tull's first live album, 1978's Bursting Out, hit stores in September 1978.  It was recorded just a few months earlier as Ian Anderson, Martin Barre, John Glascock, John Evan, Dee Palmer, and Barriemore Barlow toured behind their eleventh studio album, Heavy Horses.  On June 21, it will return from Rhino in a new 3CD/3DVD book-style edition featuring new remixes by Steven Wilson and an array of bonus material. Bursting Out: The Inflated Edition contains: CD 1: Jethro Tull Live:

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Jethro Tull, Steven Wilson

Let's Do It Again: The Staple Singers' "Africa '80" Coming from Omnivore

April 8, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Staple Singers Africa 80

Fans of The Staple Singers are in for a treat.  On May 10, Omnivore Recordings will reissue Africa 80, the live album from the legendary gospel-soul group documenting their first-ever tour of the continent. Roebuck "Pops" Staples, daughters Cleotha, Mavis, and Yvonne, and son Pervis raised their voices in song to celebrate the Lord, but also to crusade for civil rights and share musical messages of power and positivity around the world.  In the 1960s, the group transitioned from pure gospel

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: Gospel, R&B/Soul Tags: The Staple Singers

Stayin' With It: Edsel Continues Kiki Dee Box Set Series, Premieres "Two Sides to Every Story" Album

April 4, 2024 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Kiki Dee Ariola and EMI Years

When Elton John played the final stop of his final U.S. tour at Los Angeles' Dodger Stadium on November 20, 2022, Kiki Dee was right there by his side to sing their 1976 smash "Don't Go Breaking My Heart."  While that duet remains a major part of the Kiki Dee story, there's plenty more to the Yorkshire-born singer-songwriter's discography.  Thankfully, Edsel has chronicled that discography in depth on 2020's The Fontana and Motown Years (spanning 1963-1970) and 2019's The Rocket Years (spanning

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Categories: News, Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Elton John, Kiki Dee

Born to Get Down: Robinsongs Reissues Three Albums from The Muscle Shoals Horns

April 1, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Muscle Shoals Horns Three fer

3614 Jackson Highway: Cher immortalized the Sheffield, Alabama address of Muscle Shoals Sound Studio as the title of her 1969 album.  The superstar was just one of the many legends who passed through the Studio's doors in hopes of capturing some of that southern swamp magic; others include The Rolling Stones, Aretha Franklin, Paul Simon, Wilson Pickett, Rod Stewart, and Bob Dylan.  Much of that earthy sound was conjured by The Muscle Shoals Horns, the brassy complement to the studio's famed

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Disco/Dance, Funk, R&B/Soul Tags: The Muscle Shoals Horns

Younger Than Springtime: Light in the Attic Reissues Pete Jolly's A&M Classic "Seasons"

March 21, 2024 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Pete Jolly Seasons

Pianist/organist/accordionist Pete Jolly (1932-2004), born Peter Ceragioli, Jr., made his debut as a leader in 1955 on the RCA label.  After moves to labels including Liberty and Columbia, Jolly landed at A&M Records in 1968.  Co-founder Herb Alpert - the A in A&M - personally produced or co-produced all three of Jolly's long-players for the Hollywood label.  Songs by A&M mainstays such as Roger Nichols, Burt Bacharach, and Antonio Carlos Jobim populated the albums.  The third of

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Categories: News Formats: Vinyl Genre: Jazz, Pop Tags: Herb Alpert, Pete Jolly, Roger Nichols

No Regrets: Stage Door Premieres Libby Morris' "Edith Piaf, Je Vous Aime..." on CD

March 19, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Edith Piaf Je Vous Aime

The life of French chanteuse Edith Piaf (1915-1963) has been dramatized on stage and screen numerous times over the years, from Pam Gems' play Piaf (productions of which have starred Jane Lapotaire, Elaine Paige, Elena Roger, and Caroline O'Connor) to writer-director Olivier Dahan's film La Vie en Rose (starring Marion Cotillard). This Friday, March 22, Stage Door Records will reissue a well-received Piaf tribute for the very first time on CD.  Edith Piaf, Je Vous Aime..., devised and produced

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Edith Piaf, Libby Morris

Tighten Up: Robinsongs Chronicles Archie Bell & The Drells' Atlantic and PIR Years in New Box

March 14, 2024 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Archie Bell and The Drells The Albums

"Hi, everybody!  I'm Archie Bell of The Drells, of Houston, Texas!"  Archie Bell let the world know exactly who he was as he led his group through the "Tighten Up," his 1968 Pop and R&B chart-topping dance record.  He explained to author Fred Bronson that the decision to introduce himself was in response to an unkind remark that "nothing good ever came out of Texas."  Bell was determined to prove that the comment was wrong - and prove it, he certainly did.  Cherry Red's Robinsongs imprint

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Disco/Dance, R&B/Soul Tags: Archie Bell and the Drells

Have You Ever Been in Love: Omnivore Reissues Rare Recordings from The Stylistics, Doris Troy

March 13, 2024 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

The Stylistics Love Is Back in Style

Omnivore Recordings is celebrating legends of soul with a pair of two new releases. In just three albums recorded between 1971 and 1973, The Stylistics - a.k.a. lead singer Russell Thompkins, Jr., Airrion Love, Herb Murrell, James Dunn, and James Smith - positioned themselves at the vanguard of Philadelphia soul, introducing future pop and R&B standards such as "You Are Everything," "People Make the World Go Round" and "You Make Me Feel Brand New" with multi-hyphenate Thom Bell (serving

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Doris Troy, The Stylistics

In Memoriam: Eric Carmen (1949-2024)

March 12, 2024 By Joe Marchese 6 Comments

essential eric carmen

Here at The Second Disc, we're shocked and saddened by the passing of Eric Carmen at the age of 74.  With The Raspberries and such indelible songs as "Go All the Way," "Let's Pretend," and "I Wanna Be with You," Carmen gave powerful voice to young love and lust; as a solo artist, he brought classical flourishes to the pop chart with "All by Myself" and "Never Gonna Fall in Love Again."  He went on to define the '80s as much as he had the '70s with such enduring hits as "Hungry Eyes" and "Make Me

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Categories: News Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Eric Carmen

In Memoriam: Steve Lawrence (1935-2024)

March 8, 2024 By Joe Marchese 20 Comments

Steve Lawrence

I can't remember when I first heard the voice of Steve Lawrence - or, for that matter, which voice of Steve Lawrence I first heard.  Maybe it was as a child, spinning my mom's old Columbia 45 of "Go Away, Little Girl," the 1962 smash written by Carole King and Gerry Goffin and sung by a smitten young man, his voice sweetly tender.  Perhaps it was a few years later as I discovered the original cast recording of Golden Rainbow, a quintessentially brassy, swingin' '60s musical in which Steve (a few

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Categories: News Genre: Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Steve Lawrence

Living Proof: Bruce Springsteen to Release New Career-Spanning 'Best Of'

March 4, 2024 By Joe Marchese 12 Comments

Best of Bruce Springsteen

In late 2021, Sony Music announced the acquisition of Bruce Springsteen's entire recorded music and songwriting catalogues in a deal valued by The New York Times as an estimated $550 million.  Since then, The Boss has released one new studio album (2022's Only the Strong Survive, reported to be the first volume in a series of R&B covers albums) but no archival projects have emerged.  On April 19, Sony will release the first domestic "best-of" compilation for the artist since 2009's Greatest

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, Pop, Rock, Soundtracks Tags: Bruce Springsteen

Craft Recordings Jazz Round-Up: Label Reissues Titles from Joe Henderson, Ron Carter, Art Pepper, Cannonball Adderley and Bill Evans, More

March 1, 2024 By Joe Marchese 7 Comments

Art Blakey Caravan

As 2024 unfolds, it's clear that Craft Recordings is one major destination for jazz.  The label's various imprints have readied a number of titles due over the next couple of months from such luminaries as Joe Henderson, Sonny Rollins, Cannonball Adderley, Ron Carter, and many others.  Here's a rundown of what's on the schedule! Out March 15 from Jazz Dispensary is an all-analog reissue from tenor saxophone great Joe Henderson (1937-2001).  The 1969 classic Power to the People blended hard

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download, Digital Streaming, Vinyl Genre: Jazz Tags: Art Blakey, Art Blakey and the Jazz Messengers, Bill Evans, Cannonball Adderley, Joe Henderson, Ron Carter

Crazy (Over You): Esoteric Expands "Baby James Harvest" With New Stereo and Surround Mixes, More

February 29, 2024 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Barclay James Harvest Baby James Harvest

Esoteric Recordings' refresh of the Barclay James Harvest catalogue has seen deluxe expansions of most of the prog-rock heroes' classic-era albums.  In fall 2023, Esoteric got around to the band's fourth and final album for EMI's Harvest Records.  1972's Baby James Harvest, often considered a weak link in a strong run of LPs, can now be reevaluated in a 4CD/1Blu-ray edition containing the remastered original stereo mix; a new stereo mix; copious bonus tracks; a full concert in mono and stereo;

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Barclay James Harvest

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