Halloween's coming a little early this year, thanks to Rubellan Remasters. The label is licensing expanded editions of the first four Oingo Boingo albums from Universal Music Group for release this September. The mind-bending ska/New Wave group from Los Angeles, formed from an experimental theater troupe that appeared on The Gong Show, was led by a charismatic frontman named Danny Elfman. Boingo's nervous energy, horn-infused rock and lyrics that thumbed the noses of polite society made for
Head Over Heels: UMe Debuts Vintage Tears for Fears Live Set for RSD Drops 2021
Among Universal Music Group's RSD Drop offerings for Record Store Day's two-pronged 2021 celebration include a previously unreleased live double album from Tears for Fears. Live At Massey Hall captures the British rockers supporting sophomore album Songs from the Big Chair as it starts to take off worldwide. When the group started a four-date stand at the Toronto theatre at the end of May 1985, "Everybody Wants to Rule the World" was on its way to topping the U.S. charts. ("Shout" would
A Bandcamp Friday with Prestige: Classic Jazz Label Added to Indie Music Service
Just one recommendation of sorts for April 2021's Bandcamp Friday - but it's a big one: 61 great albums from Prestige Records are now available to stream and download on the service. Founded by Bob Weinstock in 1949, Prestige was an early home for some of the mid-century's most revolutionary jazz figures, including Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Sonny Rollins, Stan Getz and Thelonious Monk. The label's output, much of it impeccably recorded by engineer Rudy Van Gelder, was a haven as hard bop
Bandcamp Friday Picks, March 2021: Say Hello to Tenant from Zero
Since the beginning of the pandemic in 2020, indie music retailer Bandcamp has waived their share of revenue for indie artists and labels using their platform to give "the little guys" a leg up in the absence of touring and other moneymaking activities for musicians. The result was more music bought by more fans than any day on the site, a record broken on the first Friday of May. The Second Disc has proudly covered Bandcamp Fridays in June, July, August, September, Octoberand November - plus
‘Ninja Turtles’ Sequel Score Oozes to Life from Waxwork
After doing a bodacious job with its predecessor, Waxwork Records will debut John Du Prez's butt-kicking score to Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles II: The Secret of the Ooze. Released in 1991, a year after the first film became a surprise blockbuster, Turtles II featured the comic book superheroes learning more about the mutagen that resulted in their creation...and have to contend with their old foe Shredder, who obtains some of the ooze to create a pair of fearsome henchmen. While Turtlemania
If I Could Be Like That: 3 Doors Down Expand Their Debut Album for 20th Anniversary
American rockers 3 Doors Down are celebrating the 20th anniversary of their debut in March with a new deluxe edition. Debut album The Better Life will be pressed on two CDs or three LPs featuring the original sextuple-platinum album and the band's original self-released demo album. Hailing from Escatawpa, Mississippi, 3 Doors Down - singer/drummer Brad Arnold, guitarists Matt Roberts and Chris Henderson and bassist Todd Harrell - perfected the post-grunge style of angsty but thoughtful rock
In the Meantime: UMe Reconfigures ‘What’s Going On’ Bonuses for 50th Anniversary
As one of the most striking albums in Motown Records' deep catalogue and one of the most moving pieces of conscientious Black expression in pop music, What's Going On has been in the spotlight many times since its release nearly a half-century ago. This week, Universal Music Enterprises seeks to streamline the album's reissues in the 21st century with three new digital products. What's Happening Brother: Earlier Reissues What's Going On first got the deluxe treatment for its 30th
Setting Sail to the Island of Souls: Sting’s ‘The Soul Cages’ Receives Digital Expansion
A surprise archival release from Sting dropped this weekend: a digital expanded edition of his third solo album, The Soul Cages, which celebrates its 30th anniversary this month. A deeply-felt song cycle, The Soul Cages found Sting simultaneously looking backward and forward. In the studio, he reunited with producer Hugh Padgham, who'd overseen The Police's Ghost in the Machine and Synchronicity; he also diversified his backing band, picking up session guitarist Dominic Miller - his musical
Living It Up: Level 42 Preps Box Set of Early Polydor Material
Before the rest of the world knew there was something about Level 42, the British jazz-rock group built a foundation of successful material that caught on in their home country. This spring, Cherry Red's Robinsongs label will compile, with the band's input and blessing, their material for Polydor Records with the first of two CD box sets. The Complete Polydor Years Volume 1 1980-1984, available March 26, chronicles singer/bassist Mark King, keyboardist Mike Lindup and brothers Boon Gould (on
Scream of Love: Intrada Debuts ‘Psycho III’ Score on CD
Intrada's first archival score release of 2021 is a killer! The label will release, for the first time on CD, Carter Burwell's chilling score to Psycho III. After 1983's shockingly solid sequel to Alfred Hitchcock's 1960 classic, Universal Pictures sought star Anthony Perkins to both lead and direct a third film. Norman Bates is back at his old motel, having learned a terrible secret about his dear old mother in the last film. It's a secret that threatens to unravel when new faces show up to
Soundtrack Watch: Varese Expands ‘Looney Tunes’ and ‘Babe,’ La-La Land Sweeps New ‘Cobra Kai’ Albums
The year is still new, but archival soundtrack labels are already working overtime with some solid new releases, including two expanded versions of gems from Varese Sarabande's catalogue, and two new releases from La-La Land Records covering one of TV's hottest tickets. First up from Varese is a new expansion of Nigel Westlake's score to the film Babe. Based on a British book about a pig raised as a sheepdog on a country farm, the film was seven years in development by an unlikely producer:
Another Discmas in the Trenches!
The holiday season is always a time to reflect - but it goes without saying there's something different about this year. Amidst a health pandemic unprecedented in our lifetimes - and a lot of economic anxiety stemming from it - getting through the year in one piece has seemed such a tall order. And so many did not - including not only those we loved up close and personally, but those whose art we adored from various distances as well. In such times that reframe the heights of human kindness
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Shania Twain, ‘The Woman in Me (Diamond Edition)’
If there's one good thing we can pull from 2020's reissue slate, it's diversity. The end of the year's biggest box sets focused less on the typical classic-rock heavy-hitters and more on genres, eras and artists that typically don't get the red carpet treatment. It's a trend that would surely be nice to continue. The new "Diamond Edition" of Shania Twain's The Woman in Me (Mercury Nashville/UMe B0032601-02) checks off all three of those boxes, yet it's initially an odd sell. After all, isn't
Soundtrack Watch: Everybody’s Talkin’ About Quartet’s Score Reissues
As we approach the end of 2020, soundtrack labels are working overtime to put out some great archival score presentations. Not to be ignored this time of year is an impressive line-up from European label Quartet Records: last week they announced three incredible expanded releases and a new re-recording. Additionally, they recently issued another two expanded releases that are absolutely worth fans' time. Those recent releases are a pair of acclaimed scores from 1990: Jerry Goldsmith's work on
Soundtrack Watch: La-La Land Plans Goldsmith Series, ‘Tremors’ and More
Six new and archival soundtracks made up La-La Land's celebrated Black Friday batch this year, including continuations of several of the label's riessue series and the creation of a new one! The label continues its ongoing individual expansions of Bill Conti's scores to The Karate Kid series with a new pressing of the score to the third film in the series. Ralph Macchio, Pat Morita and director John G. Avildsen again reunited for a slightly redundant story in which Daniel and Mr. Miyagi are
Play Tetris Til My Eyes Fall Out: The Second Disc’s Bandcamp Friday Picks, October 2020
The month's best new release day is back! Since March, indie music retailer Bandcamp has waived their share of revenue for indie artists and labels using their platform to give "the little guys" a leg up in the face of the pandemic. The result was more music bought by more fans than any day on the site, a record broken on the first Friday of May. Bandcamp Fridays have since taken place in June, July, August, and September - plus the first of an annual occurrence when the service will donate its
Got Me on My Knees: Derek and The Dominos’ ‘Layla’ Gets Vinyl Box Set Release for 50th Anniversary
UMe will celebrate the 50th anniversary of Derek & The Dominos' sole album on November 13, by converting a deluxe edition released nearly a decade ago for a first-time vinyl release. Layla and Other Assorted Love Songs was celebrated back in 2011 with a deluxe, cross-format box set that featured the remastered original album (on CD, vinyl and in a 5.1 surround mix on DVD), 1973's In Concert, and a disc of 13 bonus tracks, including new mixes of outtakes from the supergroup's unfinished
Love on a Real Train: Tangerine Dream Collect Early ’80s Works in ‘Pilots of Purple Twilight’
Tangerine Dream will collect their early '80s works into a box set next month - including two unreleased soundtracks. Pilots of Purple Twilight: The Virgin Recordings 1980-1983, due in stores October 30, offers 10 CDs of work from the German electronic rock band as they began a new era of live performance and work in film and television. During this era, group founder Edgar Froesse and longtime member Christopher Franke were augmented with a third keyboardist, Johannes Schmoelling, to
Soundtrack Watch: September Slates for Varese, La-La Land, Intrada
September was an unusually bountiful month for archival soundtracks, and we're here to break it all down. Varese Goes West, Revisits Buddy Holly The latest title in Varese Sarabande's CD Club was an expansion of Elmer Bernstein's heroic score to the 1999 blockbuster Wild Wild West. Though the film somewhat infamously broke co-star Will Smith's ironclad grip on the July 4 weekend box office after star turns in Independence Day (1996) and Men In Black (1997), the weird cult charm of this
Never Was a Cloudy Day: New Remixes Celebrate Earth, Wind & Fire’s “September”
Do you remember? The 21st night of September is nearly upon us, and it's always a bit of a day to celebrate for Earth, Wind & Fire fans. This year, the R&B legends are rising to the occasion with a new video and retro-style remixes of the 1978 smash. The lead single from The Best of Earth, Wind & Fire Volume 1, a Top 10 hit at the time of its release, has taken on a life of its own. Since 2016, writer/comedian Demi Adejuyigbe has gained notoriety with an annual series of
Short Takes: Elvis Costello, Bruce Springsteen Share Details on Future Box Sets
Over the past few days, two rock legends dished on some upcoming catalogue projects while discussing their latest musical works. On Friday, in a new interview with Billboard, Elvis Costello talked about next month's Hey Clockface, releasing October 30 - but also let slip some details about another series of reissues around his first decade of material: Recently I went to a meeting at a record company for the first time since the '90s [at Universal, which last year renewed its global license
Is This Love: Whitesnake Remix Romantic Tracks For ‘Love Songs’ Collection
Continuing a series of compilations that kicked off earlier this year, Whitesnake will release a new collection, Love Songs, through Rhino on November 6. Love Songs is the middle act in the British rock group's "Red, White and Blues" trilogy that kicked off with The Rock Album back in June. (The closer, The Blues Album, will hit stores next year.) Like that collection, Love Songs is centered on a theme - romance, as you could guess from the title - and like The Rock Album, every track on here
Shoot It Up: Cherry Red Expands Sigue Sigue Sputnik’s Debut
Cherry Red is launching the debut album by Sigue Sigue Sputnik back into orbit with a greatly-expanded 4CD set. Flaunt It, the group's 1986 album introduction after several years of hype and a pair of Top 20 hits in the U.K., will be expanded to feature two discs of B-sides and remixes and a previously unreleased live-in-studio set at Abbey Road Studios. All the material is remastered from the original tapes and assembled with input by original group bassist Tony James and guitarist Neal
Burn Down The Mission: Elton John Collects Rarities On New Box Set
Elton John is reaching deep into the vault with Jewel Box, a new, super-sized collection of rare and unreleased material. The British pop legend will release the new eight-disc collection on November 13, providing the deepest dive yet into his expansive, five-decade-plus archive. Approximately 63 of the set's 148 songs are previously unreleased, and three dozen B-sides are being compiled here for the first time. There are four themes across the discs, which will carry over to a trio of
Riding On The Metro: Berlin’s ‘Pleasure Victim’ Expanded by Rubellan Remasters
Earlier this month, the Rubellan Remasters label issued their latest expanded CD - a bonus-track packed version of Berlin's breakthrough album, Pleasure Victim. Released in 1982, Pleasure Victim found the California band (no Europeans here, despite the name) bouncing back from a few years of difficulties on the club scene. In 1979, lead singer Teri Nunn had left the band, leaving the rest of the group's members to record a debut album with another vocalist. When Nunn rejoined, the group began
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