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/ Joe Marchese

Spotlight On: The 4 Seasons' "Sherry" and "Big Girls Don't Cry" Mono Editions

October 1, 2015 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Four Seasons Sherry

In recent months, Real Gone Music has further diversified its CD offerings with a line of mini-LP replica editions of rare titles from Banana and the Bunch, The Viscounts, and Jorge Ben.  This Friday, the label kicks off an eagerly-anticipated series from New Jersey's favorite sons, The 4 Seasons.  The band's first and third albums - from 1962 and 1963, respectively - were both headlined by U.S. No. 1 singles.  The Vee-Jay releases Sherry and 11 Others (RGM-0386) and Big Girls Don't Cry and

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Frankie Valli, The Four Seasons

Paul McCartney Archive Collection "Tug of War" and "Pipes of Peace" ARRIVE TOMORROW!

October 1, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Paul McCartney Tug of War

REMINDER!  Tomorrow, October 2, will finally see the release of the next two installments in Paul McCartney's Archive Collection: Tug of War and Pipes of Peace! At last, we can say, say, say it's true: the next two volumes of the Paul McCartney Archive Collection are almost here in a variety of formats.  Macca's second and third albums of the 1980s, the platinum sellers Tug of War and Pipes of Peace, will arrive from Concord Records and MPL with the expected array of bonus material,

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Paul McCartney

Man, We Had a Party: Ace Collects Sequel Songs On "Second Helpings"

September 30, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Second Helpings

Numerous collections have compiled famous "answer songs."  Ace Records' 2007 anthology The Answer to Everything had many of the best, like Jody Miller's "Queen of the House," Esther Phillips' "When a Woman Loves a Man" and Marilyn Michaels' "Tell Tommy I Miss Him."  Early in the summer, Ace took a look not at answer songs, per se, but at sequel songs, on the compilation of Second Helpings: Sequels to the Songs That Left 'Em Hungry for More! The 24 tracks on this collection all hail from the

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country, Pop, R&B/Soul Tags: Buddy Holly, George Jones, Jay and the Americans, Jimmy Dean, Marty Robbins, The Marvelettes, The Shirelles, Various Artists, Wanda Jackson

Perfectly Frank: "A Voice On Air" Box Set Collects Rare, Unreleased Sinatra Recordings

September 29, 2015 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Sinatra A Voice on Air

The Sinatra centennial celebration is picking up steam this fall with the release of a new 4-CD box set from Legacy Recordings.  On November 20, the label will release Frank Sinatra: A Voice on Air (1935-1955), the first comprehensive, fully authorized collection of Sinatra's historic radio performances.  Over 100 tracks have been meticulously restored from the original recording masters for what's being billed as "unprecedented high fidelity sound." A Voice on Air captures Sinatra during the

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Frank Sinatra

Review: Dr. John, "The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974"

September 29, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Dr. John Singles

Dr. John's most famous single was titled "Right Place Wrong Time," but the one and only Mac Rebennack has certainly found himself in the right place at many a right time.  One particularly halcyon period of the funky New Orleans piano man's long career is captured on Omnivore Recordings' essential new collection of The Atco/Atlantic Singles 1968-1974 (OVCD-149). Though the 22 U.S. and U.K. singles included on this collection represent Dr. John's earliest years as a solo artist under that

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Allen Toussaint, Dr. John

Review: Johnny Mathis, "The Singles"

September 28, 2015 By Joe Marchese 1 Comment

Johnny Mathis Singles

A new 4-CD box set from Legacy Recordings and Columbia Records can be best summed up by the title of its very first track: "Wonderful! Wonderful!"  Johnny Mathis' simply-titled The Singles doesn't bring together every track released by the legendary artist on 45 RPM; such an endeavor would take far more than four discs.  Instead, it features the tracks originally released by Mathis on Columbia in the singles format - in other words, non-LP sides - between the years of 1956 and 1981, in their

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Johnny Mathis

Review: Tennessee Ernie Ford, "Portrait of an American Singer"

September 25, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

With three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, a Presidential Medal of Freedom, and inductions into the Country Music and Gospel Music Halls of Fame to his name, there were few heights that Ernest Jennings Ford - a.k.a. Tennessee Ernie Ford - didn't scale.  A mainstay of radio and television, Ford's decades-long association with Capitol Records yielded a rich catalogue filled with country, proto rock-and-roll boogie-woogie, western swing, pop and folk ballads, gospel, novelty records, blues and

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Categories: Reviews Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Country, Pop Tags: Tennessee Ernie Ford

Release Round-Up: Week of September 25

September 25, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

David Bowie Five Years Cover

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up - maybe the biggest and most diverse yet of 2015! David Bowie, Five Years (Parlophone) 12 CD Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. 13 LP Box Set: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. New remasters of David Bowie (a.k.a. Space Oddity), The Man Who Sold the World, Hunky Dory and Pin Ups are collected in a new box set along with existing versions of Ziggy Stardust (in both the original and 2003 mixes), Aladdin Sane, Live Santa Monica '72, the Ziggy Stardust

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, SACD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Country, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul Tags: Ashford and Simpson, Billy Cobham, Bob Marley, David Bowie, Diana Krall, Don Henley, Herb Alpert, Johnny Mathis, Judy Garland, Liza Minnelli, Loggins and Messina, Micky Dolenz, Queen, Sneakers, Tennessee Ernie Ford, Tony Bennett

One Singular Sensation: "A Chorus Line" Returns In 40th Anniversary Expanded Edition

September 24, 2015 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

A Chorus Line 40th

Of a remarkable and indeed, singular, career that crowned him as an EGOT - winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony Awards - and one of only two EGOTs with a Pulitzer Prize (the other is Richard Rodgers), Marvin Hamlisch's most lasting musical accomplishment might well be his score to A Chorus Line.   Working with lyricist Ed Kleban, director/choreographer Michael Bennett, co-choreographer Bob Avian, and writers James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, composer Hamlisch struck a universal chord with the

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings Tags: Donna McKechnie, Ed Kleban, Marvin Hamlisch, Priscilla Lopez

Positively Bob Dylan: "The Bootleg Series Vol. 12" Box Sets Collect 1965-1966 Sessions

September 24, 2015 By Joe Marchese 11 Comments

Bob Dylan 6 CD Bootleg 12

Bob's dropped the big one. News has just been confirmed of the next volume of Bob Dylan's Bootleg Series - and it's the most comprehensive yet.  The Cutting Edge 1965-1966 looks at one of the most halcyon periods in the troubadour's long career: the creatively fertile time in the studio that yielded the trilogy of masterworks Bringing It All Back Home, Highway 61 Revisited and Blonde on Blonde. This new collection, transferred from the original tapes, will be available from Columbia

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock Tags: Bob Dylan

Tender Words: The Anita Kerr Singers, The Mike Sammes Singers Collected On él Label

September 24, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Anita Kerr Tender Words

A pair of recent releases from Cherry Red's él imprint shines a well-deserved spotlight on two famed groups of background vocalists, one from each side of the Atlantic: The Anita Kerr Singers and The Mike Sammes Singers. As a major pioneer of The Nashville Sound alongside producer-guitarist Chet Atkins, Anita Kerr led her distinctive choir on records by Patsy Cline, Jim Reeves, Brenda Lee, Eddy Arnold, Willie Nelson and Floyd Cramer.  The Kerr Singers' distinctive harmonies were also heard

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Chet Atkins, The Anita Kerr Singers, The Mike Sammes Singers

Heaven: Iconoclassic Reissues Carl Wilson's Solo Debut, Analogue Continues Beach Boys On SACD

September 23, 2015 By Joe Marchese 12 Comments

Carl Wilson Carl Wilson

Summer may now be over, but a number of Beach Boys-related releases aim to keep the summer alive.  Our very own Second Disc Records label teamed with Real Gone Music in September for a newly remastered and expanded reissue of Ricci Martin's Beached, the all-star album recorded by Dean Martin's son Ricci with co-producers Carl Wilson and Billy Hinsche.  Now, Iconoclassic Records has announced next week's first-ever U.S. CD reissue of Carl's 1981 eponymous solo debut.  And if that's not enough,

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Categories: News Formats: CD, SACD Genre: Pop Tags: Carl Wilson, The Beach Boys

More Love: High Moon Reissues, Expands Arthur Lee and Love's Rare "Reel to Real"

September 22, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Love Reel to Real

High Moon Records, the label behind the recent releases of Love's Black Beauty and Gene Clark's Two Sides to Every Story, has announced its next title.  On November 27, High Moon will reissue Love's 1974 album Reel to Real as a newly-expanded Deluxe Edition in the following formats: Expanded CD packaged in a deluxe custom digipak with a full-color, 32-page booklet; LP pressed on high-quality RTI vinyl with full-color, 28-page LP-sized booklet; LP includes download card for high-quality

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Classic Rock, R&B/Soul Tags: Arthur Lee, Love

Tell It All: Ashford and Simpson's "Come As You Are" Continues BBR's Reissue Series

September 22, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Ashford and Simpson Come As You Are

The husband-and-wife team of Nickolas Ashford and Valerie Simpson needs no introduction; the classic R&B and pop songbook has been shaped by the duo's compositions including "Ain't No Mountain High Enough," "Ain't Nothing Like the Real Thing," "Reach Out and Touch (Somebody's Hand)," "Let's Go Get Stoned," "California Soul" and "Solid (As a Rock)."  Big Break Records has recently been celebrating Ashford (1941-2011) and Simpson (born 1946) in a major way - with a definitive expanded reissue

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Ashford and Simpson

WE HAVE OUR WINNERS: THE BUCKINGHAMS' "COMPLETE HIT SINGLES" GIVEAWAY!

September 21, 2015 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Buckinghams Complete Hit Singles

CONGRATULATIONS! The following 10 entrants have won a copy of The Buckinghams' brand-new The Complete Hit Singles from Varese Vintage!  If you entered our contest via Facebook and your name is on the list below, please drop us a line at theseconddisc-at-gmail-dot-com or a Private Message on Facebook with your name and mailing address!  If you entered via email, you don't have to do anything - your CD will be in the mail soon! And if you're not among the winners, we know it's kind of a drag

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Categories: Giveaways!, News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: The Buckinghams

Anton Fig's "Figments" Features Brian Wilson, Blondie Chaplin, Ace Frehley, Al Kooper, More

September 21, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Anton Fig Figments

Between 1986 and spring 2015, Anton Fig could be found on a nightly basis behind the drum kit of The World's Most Dangerous Band and, then, The CBS Orchestra.  Part of Paul Shaffer's band for David Letterman's NBC and CBS late-night talk shows, Fig would be glowingly acknowledged by the host as "Buddy Rich, Jr." for his ferocity and prowess with his instrument.  In 2002, the South Africa-born music great ventured out on his own to record his first solo album, appropriately entitled Figments. 

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Categories: News Formats: CD, Digital Download Genre: Rock Tags: Ace Frehley, Al Kooper, Anton Fig, Blondie Chaplin, Brian Wilson, Chip Taylor, Richie Havens

Release Round-Up: Week of September 18

September 18, 2015 By Joe Marchese Leave a Comment

Grateful Dead Definitive Live

Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up including a couple of spectacular new box sets, one acclaimed soundtrack, numerous reissues and anthologies, and the return of a few beloved artists! a-ha, Hunting High and Low: 30th Anniversary Super Deluxe Edition (Warner Bros./Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) The 1985 debut from a-ha gets super-sized with Rhino's upcoming 4-CD/1-DVD edition.  Disc One has the original, remastered album, while Disc Two boasts 25 demos, Disc Three has 15

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Categories: Release Round-Up Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, Digital Download, DVD, Vinyl Genre: Cast Recordings, Classic Rock, Folk, Jazz, Pop, Popular Standards/Vocal, R&B/Soul, Rock Tags: a-ha, Brian Wilson, Darlene Love, David Gilmour, Dr. John, Elyse Weinberg, Erroll Garner, Grateful Dead, Judy Collins, Keith Richards, Otis Redding, Patti LuPone

Edsel Boxes Singer-Songwriter Eddi Reader's "Blanco y Negro Years"

September 18, 2015 By Joe Marchese 4 Comments

Eddi Reader Blanco y Negro

In recent months, the ever-busy team at Demon Music Group's Edsel label has turned out a number of notable box sets.  Today, we'll spotlight the set from Eddi Reader! Glasgow-born singer-songwriter Eddi Reader began her career as a background vocalist, singing with punk outfit Gang of Four as well as the likes of Alison Moyet, The Waterboys, and Eurythmics.  In 1987, she was signed with her band Fairground Attraction to RCA, and the major label's gamble on the new act paid off when

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: Pop Tags: Eddi Reader

Everlasting Love: RPM Collects The Complete Love Affair and Steve Ellis On CBS

September 17, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Love Affair Time Hasnt Changed Us1

A recent release from Cherry Red's RPM Records imprint opens with a bold statement in its liner notes: "In 1968, only The Beatles sold more records in Britain than The Love Affair" - surprising but true!  Today, the band is best-known for its hit "Everlasting Love," a U.K. Number One that still is in rotation on oldies radio.  But in the brief period between January 1968 and July 1969, The Love Affair scored five U.K. Top 20 hits.  The Love Affair and Steve Ellis' Time Hasn't Changed Us: The

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: Steve Ellis, The Love Affair

Sing Him Back Home: Porter Wagoner Classics Enter The Digital Domain

September 16, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Porter Bottom of the Bottle

With his unmistakable blonde pompadour and flashy Nudie suits, Porter Wagoner (1927-2007) cut one of the most distinctive figures in country music.  The three-time Grammy-winning Missouri-born singer known as "Mr. Grand Ole Opry" charted over 80 records in his lengthy career, but his solo releases have often been overlooked due to his prosperous association with the young Dolly Parton.  Legacy Recordings has taken one step to rectify that with the first-time digital release of six albums

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Categories: News Formats: Digital Download Genre: Country Tags: Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner

Second Disc Records Makes Spirits Bright This November With Jim Nabors and Lynn Anderson

September 15, 2015 By Joe Marchese 2 Comments

Jim Nabors Complete Columbia Christmas

Autumn is just days away, but here at The Second Disc, our thoughts have already turned to winter - and more specifically, to the music of the holiday season!  We're thrilled to announce the first-ever Christmas titles to be released on our own Second Disc Records label - and we promise that they'll get you in the spirit of the season!  On November 6, as part of Real Gone Music's mega-Christmas slate (more news on that VERY soon!), we'll be releasing Jim Nabors' Complete Columbia Christmas

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Categories: News Formats: CD Genre: Country, Popular Standards/Vocal Tags: Jim Nabors, Lynn Anderson

All You Need Is Love: The Beatles Go "1+" In November With New Deluxe Set

September 15, 2015 By Joe Marchese 26 Comments

Beatles 1 Plus CD 2 BD

The Beatles 1 is back. The 2000 record-breaking, chart-topping compilation returns in newly-expanded form from Apple Corps and UMe on November 6, adding a video component capturing the band's filmed work to accompany the album's 27 U.K. and U.S. No. 1 singles. The upcoming release will be available in a number of configurations: Beatles 1: 1 CD/1 DVD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Beatles 1: 1 CD/1 BD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Beatles 1: 1 CD (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K.) Beatles 1:

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Categories: News Formats: Blu-Ray, Box Sets, CD, DVD Genre: Classic Rock, Pop Tags: The Beatles

New "Casino Classics" Box Features Northern Soul From Jackie Trent, Tommy Hunt, Gloria Jones, Len Barry

September 15, 2015 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Casino Classics

When American soul great Tommy Hunt first approached the Wigan Casino in Wigan, England to celebrate the nightclub's second anniversary on September 27, 1975, his first reaction was decidedly mixed.  He recalled in 2013, "When I got to Wigan, I refused to go in!  It scared me because it looked so rough!  I'd been playing these fabulous clubs.  When I looked at the outside, I said to the driver, 'you must be at the wrong place.'  He said, 'Tommy, wait 'til you get inside.'  When I walked in

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Categories: News Formats: Box Sets, CD Genre: R&B/Soul Tags: Gloria Jones, Jackie Trent, Len Barry, Reparata and the Delrons, The Ramsey Lewis Trio, Tommy Hunt, Various Artists

Review: Pugwash, "Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends)"

September 14, 2015 By Joe Marchese 3 Comments

Pugwash Play This Intimately

One of the happiest pop-rock discoveries of 2014 was undoubtedly Pugwash's A Rose in a Garden of Weeds, compiling the Irish band's best music from 1999-2011.  Now, the four-piece consisting of Thomas Walsh, Tosh Flood, Shawn McGee and Joe Fitzgerald is back with an all-new set recorded at Konk Studios and released on Omnivore Recordings. Produced by Walsh and Flood,  Play This Intimately (As If Among Friends) features the same bright, vibrant spirit and unabashedly melodic sensibility that

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Categories: Reviews Formats: CD, Digital Download, Vinyl Genre: Pop, Rock Tags: Pugwash

Mercy, Mercy, Mercy! Varese Collects The Buckinghams' "Complete Hit Singles" - AND YOU CAN WIN!

September 11, 2015 By Joe Marchese 15 Comments

Buckinghams Complete Hit Singles

When The Buckinghams' "Kind of a Drag" unseated The Monkees' "I'm a Believer" from the No. 1 spot on the Billboard Hot 100 in February 1967, becoming the first new No. 1 of the year, it was anything but a drag for the Chicago band.  The crackling single, with its triumphant brass fanfare practically heralding a hit record, was the first of The Buckinghams' three Top 10s in '67.  Now, in celebration of The Buckinghams' 50th anniversary, Varese Vintage has released the 15-track anthology The

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Categories: Giveaways!, News Formats: CD Genre: Pop Tags: The Buckinghams

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