I. In Every Job That Must Be Done, There is An Element of Fun When you’re a child – no matter where you’re from, or how perceptive you may be about such things – it’s easy to get a sixth sense about something you watch or read and just feel is different from the rest of what you’ve watched or seen. The Wizard of Oz is that way for many people. So too is Mary Poppins, P.L. Travers’ series of books about a magical nanny that was adapted into a colorful musical film by Walt…
The Weekend Stream: December 6, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. Elton John’s most recent recording gets a remix, plus some rare Prince-produced ’90s R&B, a comeback track from one of 2010s pop’s most underrated performers, and some Christmas curios you’ll have to hear to believe. There’s even a tearjerker music video from…Coldplay? Check it all out! Elton John, “Never Too Late” (Acoustic Version) (Mercury/EMI) (iTunes / Amazon) Elton’s recently released team-up with Brandi Carlile, which closes the documentary…
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Forty Year Ache: Rosanne Cash Collects Favorites for New Compilation
Rosanne Cash, the oldest child of a country music icon and a superb, genre-hopping performer in her own right, will commemorate a museum exhibit of her life and career with a new career-spanning 2CD retrospective. The Essential Collection brings together 40 of Cash’s most treasured recordings – half from her tenure on Columbia Records and the other from mostly 21st century work on the Capitol, Manhattan and Blue Note labels. The non-chronological set, curated by Cash herself, features all 10 of her No. 1 country singles, including “Seven Year Ache,” “I Don’t…
Soundtrack Watch: Varese and La-La Land Bow Their Final Score Surprises, from Blade to Bond
When La-La Land Records announced a bunch of big archival score titles for the beginning of November instead of their usual calendar-closing Black Friday announcement, it was safe to assume there were no more surprises coming from the label this year. Once again, that turned out to be quite untrue: in a reprise of last year’s Christmas Day shocker and a follow-up to their reissue of Goldfinger in October, the label has announced two more titles for 2024: a pair of lovingly-restored John Barry scores to James Bond films The Man with the…
The Weekend Stream: November 30, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. The Christmas season means favorites (quite) old and (sort of) new, plus Wang Chung’s first album and a rock and hip-hop packed slasher film soundtrack. Band Aid, Do They Know It’s Christmas? EP (Band Aid Trading Limited/UMC) EP: iTunes / Amazon Single Version: iTunes / Amazon Extended Version: iTunes / Amazon Just over four decades from its original recording and release, Band Aid’s “Do They Know It’s Christmas” returns for a…
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The Weekend Stream: November 23, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We’ve got Beach Boys covers with some fascinating history related to the band, a tribute to one of the greatest musical icons we lost this year, a new single from a legend of R&B and much more – plus a call to action to help a family in need. California Music, Don’t Worry Baby EP (RCA) (iTunes / Amazon) One of the most unusual branches of the sprawling family tree…
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‘A Ghost’ is Re-Born: Wilco Expand 2004 Album Into New Box Set
Following an acclaimed, Grammy-winning deluxe edition of Wilco’s mainstream breakthrough Yankee Hotel Foxtrot, the same creative team will assemble a similar set for 2004 follow-up A Ghost is Born. The deluxe set – made up of either nine CDs or nine LPs and four CDs – packages the album alongside 65 previously unreleased tracks, including two sets of studio outtakes, a live concert and seven “fundamentals” from the band’s recorded workshops during this same period. A 48-page hardcover book features unpublished photos and new liner notes by Bob Mehr. (Mehr won a Grammy…
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Longer After Dark: Third Man Prep Vinyl Bootleg of Tom Petty and The Heartbreakers’ 1982 Tour
This fall, Tom Petty’s estate approved an expanded reissue of Petty and The Heartbreakers’ cult favorite Long After Dark as well as a limited theatrical reissue of Heartbreakers Beach Party, a legendary lost documentary created for MTV by Cameron Crowe in his directorial debut. But the party isn’t over yet: the estate is teaming up with Third Man Records to release a vinyl-only live set for the first time. Live in Edinburgh 1982: The Gennaro Tapes is a triple album capturing a set at the Edinburgh Playhouse in Scotland at the close of 1982,…
Gotta Get In to Get Out: Genesis’ ‘The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway’ Set for Deluxe Edition Next Year
Genesis will revisit one of their most beloved albums – and their final bow with original vocalist Peter Gabriel – in a new box set next year. Announced almost 50 years to the day of its original release in 1974, a new deluxe version of The Lamb Lies Down on Broadway will be a multi-disc celebration – four CDs or five LPs, a Blu-ray Audio disc and a download card – of the group’s acclaimed work. Inside the box will be a new remaster of the original mix of the album, done by Miles…
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The Weekend Stream: November 16, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. Iconic Seattle punk, a new Elton John single and fresh Duran Duran remixes kick things off – plus another round of esoteric Christmas cheer! The Gits, Frenching the Bully / Enter: The Conquering Chicken / Kings & Queens / Seafish Louisville (2024 Remasters) (Sub Pop) Frenching: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Enter: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Kings: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Seafish: iTunes / Amazon / Bandcamp Though their punk sound was much rawer and…
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Try to See Things Their Way: Ace Preps ‘Here, There and Everywhere,’ Third Collection of Beatles Covers Through a Black Lens
As fans prepare for the release of the new Disney+ documentary Beatles ’64, chronicling The Fab Four’s legendary inaugural trip to America, U.K. label Ace Records has an exciting release coming that same weekend, featuring nearly two dozen Black artists paying tribute to a series of songbooks that owed so much to soul music and rhythm and blues traditions. Here, There and Everywhere: Black America Sings Lennon, McCartney and Harrison, available November 29, is the seventh of Ace’s “Black America Sings” releases, which began with a 2011 entry on Bob Dylan and…
Almost Unreal: Roxette’s Fifth Album Set for December Expansion
Before the year is out, Swedish duo Roxette will commemorate the 30th anniversary of their fifth album, 1994’s Crash! Boom! Bang!, with a demos-packed 2CD reissue. The album, which represented a slight change-up in style for the duo, featured fan favorite singles “Sleeping in My Car,” “Fireworks,” “Vulnerable” and the title track. This expanded edition will offer 26 bonus tracks: three non-album tracks included on a 2009 expansion of the album, including the underrated 1993 single “Almost Unreal” (heard by American fans on the soundtrack to the ill-received Super Mario Bros. live-action film)…
Make My Wish Come True: Vinyl, Singles, SACD to Commemorate 30 Years of Mariah Carey’s ‘Merry Christmas’
With the run-up to Christmas approaching full speed, the holiday’s musical queen is looking to take back her crown. To celebrate the 30th anniversary of Carey’s Merry Christmas and its unforgettable, cross-generational hit single “All I Want for Christmas is You,” the Elusive Chanteuse will deliver an expanded version of the album on vinyl, featuring material from its most recent reissue and a 24-page booklet in a hardbound package with some holiday surprises. To boost “All I Want for Christmas is You” in its inevitable journey back up the Billboard Hot 100, a number…
An Ennio Morricone Score Expansion Worth ‘A Few Dollars More’
The Man with No Name is back! Following a recent deluxe expansion of Ennio Morricone‘s unforgettable score to Sergio Leone’s The Good, The Bad and The Ugly, the Italian label Beat Records will follow suit with a generous CD and vinyl expansion of its predecessor and the second film in the “Dollars Trilogy”: 1965’s For a Few Dollars More. This hour-plus presentation offers both the original eight-cue soundtrack program issued by RCA Records in Europe on a double bill with selections from Morricone’s score to the series’ debut A Fistful of Dollars plus the original…
The Weekend Stream: November 9, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. This week brings new remixes from Pet Shop Boys, old remixes from INXS, plus rare folk, jazz and alt-rock favorites – plus another bounty of unusual Christmas albums and EPs! Pet Shop Boys, New London boy / All the young dudes EPs (x2/Parlophone) Standard: iTunes / Amazon Remixes: iTunes / Amazon A new double A-side single from Pet Shop Boys’ 15th album Nonetheless – released earlier this year – is physically due…
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Super Sequel Soundtracks Are La-La Land’s Black Friday Focus for 2024
Before announcing their typically grandiose year-end slate of archival soundtrack titles, there were rumblings in the film score fan community that La-La Land – whose release schedule offered everything from Star Trek to James Bond to the first Steven Spielberg-John Williams collaboration in 2024 – might do things a little differently. It turns out those rumors were correct: ahead of their usual Black Friday blowout, the label has instead announced three titles approved for license from major labels and studios and ready to manufacture for the top of November. All three are sequel…
The Weekend Stream: November 2, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We’ve got all the usual stuff you’d expect – reissues from Usher, rarities from The Alan Parsons Project, and another unique Daryl Hall-related EP – and some stuff you might not, like truly unusual Christmas collections and a new app from one of the best places for music in video games! Nintendo Music app One genre the Second Disc team has always wished had a stronger catalog presence:…
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Alice Cooper’s ‘Muscle of Love’ Has Never Been Sold Before (Like This)
Alice Cooper’s final album – well, the final album with Cooper’s original band of the same name – is getting a deluxe treatment this year. Available on 2CD/Blu-ray and pink double vinyl exclusively at Rhino.com, 1973’s Muscle of Love gets expanded with unreleased alternate versions of every track on the album and lengthy, track-by-track liner notes by writer Jaan Uhelszki, drawing from new interviews with Cooper and his surviving bandmates (rhythm guitarist Michael Bruce, bassist Dennis Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith and additional guitarist Mick Mashbir). The 2CD/Blu-ray additionally includes two single versions as…
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Hogwarts Forever! Rhino Plans Massive Box Set of ‘Harry Potter’ Soundtracks
More than 20 years after the first Harry Potter novel was adapted into a film, Rhino is planning a little magic of its own with a heavy-duty vinyl box set of soundtracks to all eight of the films. Limited to 3000 copies worldwide on Rhino.com and other select retailers, Harry Potter: Original Motion Picture Soundtracks I-VII will feature the original album releases of the blockbuster franchise, as composed by John Williams, Patrick Doyle, Nicholas Hooper and Alexandre Desplat. The 16LP box set will be available in one of four box and vinyl colorways – red…
Maybe This Year: Steve Perry Plots Third Reissue of Holiday Album ‘The Season’
Until a few years ago, fans wondered if Steve Perry – the best known voice of blockbuster rock band Journey – would ever sing again after a lengthy absence from the public eye. After a celebrated comeback album in 2018, Perry ended his shortest gap between solo releases three years later, with the holiday album The Season; this Christmas, it’s being reissued a third time on a new label, with even more new material. True to its name, The Season 3 is the third iteration of Perry’s holiday collection, which followed third…
So Amazing: Companion Album to Luther Vandross Documentary Features Unreleased Songs
One of this year’s documentary darlings at the Sundance Film Festival, a look at the life and career of Luther Vandross, makes its theatrical debut in select cities this week. Ahead of its wider, planned streaming release in 2025, Legacy Recordings will issue a new double-disc anthology of his work, accompanied by several rare and unreleased tracks. Never Too Much: Greatest Hits, available December 13, offers 20 tracks on two CDs that represent the cream of Vandross’ solo career. In addition to unforgettable hits across the three decades he released albums –…
The Weekend Stream: October 26, 2024
Welcome to another edition of The Weekend Stream, The Second Disc’s review of notable catalogue titles (and some new ones, too!) making digital debuts. We’re positively packed this Saturday: posthumous tracks from Van Halen, Luther Vandross and DMX; a great deluxe live set from Linda Ronstadt; plus some Halloween and Christmas surprises…and, to top it all off, a call to action to aid one of our favorite power-pop acts of the last 40 years. Edward & Alex Van Halen, “Unfinished (Between Us Two)” (self-released) (official site) Alex Van Halen just released Brothers, a heartfelt…
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Soundtrack Watch: James Bond Back in Action At La-La Land, Varese Plots ‘Matrix’ and ‘RoboCop’ Vinyl
Following our round-up of soundtrack reissues from September, here’s a look at all the great CD and vinyl expansions and re-releases film score fans can expect from this month – and even a few in the next few weeks. From James Bond to RoboCop, there’s something here for just about anyone. Everything La-La Land Records touches turns to excitement! After the surprise expansions of Bond flicks Live and Let Die and Octopussy that kicked off the calendar year, the label has stuck again with a special 60th anniversary reissue of the soundtrack to the series’…
Soundtrack Watch: September Score Releases Abound at La-La Land, Intrada and More
The end of the year always brings a deluge of news and releases for archival film score fans. While October is nearly over and has had its share of killer announcements, we’d first like to shine a light on some of the biggest titles released back in September! La-La Land had a busy ninth month of the year, featuring a lot of other long-running partnerships and favorites from the label discography. First, there’s the seventh and final release in the label’s Star Trek: The Original Series – The 1701 Collection product line. Here, all…
Funny the Way It Is: Dave Matthews Band Celebrate Rock Hall Induction with New Vinyl Compilation
Having just earned a place in the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Dave Matthews Band will release a new compilation early next year. Where Are You Going: The Singles, available February 7, is a new double-vinyl set collecting 22 of the group’s best-known songs over their three decades of studio albums, from major-label breakthrough Under the Table and Dreaming (1994) to last year’s Walk Around the Moon. Seven of those 10 albums, from 1998’s Before These Crowded Streets to 2018’s Come Tomorrow, debuted atop the Billboard 200, and while their singles’ chart placements have always…
