Even Robert Christgau couldn't get it right all the time. The self-professed "dean of American rock critics" sniffed at Roberta Flack's Quiet Fire in 1971 thusly: "Flack is generally regarded as the most significant new black woman singer since Aretha Franklin, and at moments she sounds kind, intelligent, and very likable. But she often exhibits the gratuitous gentility you'd expect of someone who says 'between you and I.'" At this juncture, Flack was three albums into a tenure with Atlantic
Bits of Blue Sky: Godley & Creme's Duo Discography Collected for New Box Set
Between their time as half of the head-turning British rock band 10cc and a whole new career as innovative music video directors, Godley & Creme carved out a unique discography as a duo. It's one that Edsel will revisit in a soon-to-be-released box set called Parts of the Process: The Complete Godley & Creme. Due for release this Friday, February 28, Parts of the Process is an 11CD set that offers the duo's seven studio releases - Consequences (1977), L (1978), Freeze
Let the Guitar Play: Santana's New 'Sentient' Revisits Collabs with Smokey Robinson, Miles Davis, Michael Jackson and More
More than 25 years after a collaboration-heavy album rocketed Carlos Santana back into the spotlight, the guitar legend will release another - albeit one assembled from an assortment of solo tracks and guest spots spanning his last five decades of work. Sentient, hitting stores on March 28, brings together joint tracks with Michael Jackson, Miles Davis, Smokey Robinson and Darryl "DMC" McDaniels of Run-DMC, along with select deep cuts that make for a retrospective distinct from well known
The Weekend Stream: February 22, 2025
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! A great Carly Simon deep cut gets a fresh mix, plus Phil Collins in concert and new music from The Stylistics. Carly Simon, "Share the End" (2025 Remaster) (Elektra/Rhino) (iTunes / Amazon) Though merely billed as a remaster in the metadata, this upbeat, heartbreaking side-two opener to Simon's sophomore album Anticipation has been
CD Alert: Small Disc Breakouts from Box Sets and More Coming from Warner
Rather than update our original posts, we felt this Friday was a good time to inform readers of a trio of modest CD sets that represent some great archival audio from bigger releases by Rhino and Warner Music in the past few years. Last summer, Rhino continued a surprising amount of catalogue from the latter portion of Van Halen's celebrated career - the period in the mid '80s and '90s when former Montrose vocalist Sammy Hagar took over for original singer David Lee Roth - with an expansion
Do Ya, Do Ya Want This Disc? The Move's Transition to Something Electric Comes Alive from Esoteric
The final works from British rockers The Move were relatively ignored by everyone, including the band themselves - until listeners started to realize how it marked the trio's transition into a whole new sound. Cherry Red's Esoteric label will revisit the group's fourth album Message from the Country in a newly remastered and expanded package, available February 28. The Move started life as a harmony-rich quintet from Birmingham in the late '60s, enjoying a half dozen Top 10s on the U.K.
Beggar on a Beach of Gold: Mike + The Mechanics, Now on Craft, Release New Hits Set
One of Genesis' key members, bassist and later guitarist Mike Rutherford, will celebrate the solo side of his career with a new career-spanning compilation. Looking Back - Living the Years is a new 16-track collection culling from nearly every one of Rutherford's albums with side project Mike + The Mechanics, for which he is the sole consistent member. (Every one of the band's many vocalists will be represented on the set.) Marking 40 years since the group's self-titled debut in 1985 - the
Soundtrack Watch: 'Rain Man,' 'Quigley,' 'English Patient' Set for Reissues
A breakthrough for one of Hollywood's biggest composers, a cult classic Western and an Oscar-winning '90s film are among the film scores being revisited by some of our favorite reissue labels this month. La-La Land has released a new presentation of Hans Zimmer's score to 1988's Rain Man. The Barry Levinson comedy-drama (a four-time Oscar winner, including Best Picture and Best Director) stars Tom Cruise as a brash young man who discovers that his late father's estate was bequeathed to an
Not Just a Mirage: Esoteric Offers Expanded, Remixed Albums by Prog Rockers Camel
Some years after a massive box set took a look at the work of British prog rockers Camel, Cherry Red's Esoteric imprint will break out some of that material in five expanded 2CD/Blu-ray presentations. Reissues of Mirage (1974), Music Inspired by The Snow Goose (1975), Moonmadness (1976), Nude (1981) and Pressure Points: Live in Concert (1984) will roll out over the next few months from Esoteric, boasting expanded versions of the original albums remastered by engineer Ben Wiseman, as well as
Like Gangbusters: JoBoxers' Complete Works Get Anthologized by Cherry Red
If you've ever wanted to search beyond "Just Got Lucky," the worldwide hit from British New Wave group JoBoxers, a new triple-disc anthology from Cherry Red has you covered. The aptly-titled Just Got Lucky: The Complete Works 1983-1986 highlights the release of the band's sole album, 1983's Like Gangbusters, along with material from two planned follow-up records and a live recording from the band's commercial peak - some 28 unreleased tracks in all. The group, recently reunited in the 2020s,
Excess All Areas: Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes' Live Team-Up to Be Expanded
A rare concert team-up between one of the great blues-rock bands of the last four decades and one of the greatest guitarists of all time is getting revisited in a new 3CD or 6LP set due for release next month. Originally released in 2000, less than a year after it was recorded, Jimmy Page and The Black Crowes' Live At The Greek was a double album featuring the group and the former Led Zeppelin guitarist tearing through renditions of classics from the latter band's catalogue, plus a heap of
The Weekend Stream: February 15, 2025
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 taking it way back today with reissues and rarities by Peggy Lee, Brenda Lee, The Fleetwoods, and The Five Satins - plus more Luther Vandross rarities! Luther Vandross, Never Too Much: Greatest HIts (Epic/Legacy) (iTunes / Amazon) Released late last year ahead of the new documentary on the late R&B legend, Luther Vandross' Never
The Voice of Love: Julee Cruise's Collaborations with Badalamenti and Lynch Compiled in New 2CD Set
In one of the more unintentionally-timed releases of the year, Cherry Red will revisit the most popular works of the late singer Julee Cruise, known for her haunting work with the late, influential filmmaker David Lynch. FALL_FLOAT_LOVE (Works 1989-1993), available April 25, brings together expanded editions of 1989's Floating Into the Night and 1993's The Voice of Love, both of which were written and produced by the iconoclastic writer/director and his longtime musical collaborator, Angelo
Thankful N' Thoughtful: Legacy Releases Soundtrack to Sly Stone Documentary
A pleasant surprise available digitally today and on CD and 2LP in May is the soundtrack to an exciting new documentary about one of the great musical icons of the '60s: Sly Stone. SLY LIVES! (aka The Burden of Black Genius) - the latest documentary by The Roots' drummer Ahmir "Questlove" Thompson, who picked up an Academy Award for his work on 2021's Summer of Soul (...or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) - has a new companion album that features 21 favorite hits and album cuts,
BMG for RSD: Duran Duran, Thompson Twins, De La Soul, Solo Stones and More Coming from Catalogue Label for Record Store Day
Among the bigger surprises of an already packed Record Store Day slate is seeing labels increase their presence within the usual offerings. One such case: BMG, a company steadily growing in prominence since corporate owner Bertelsmann sold a four-year stake in Sony Music and started rebuilding with a host of classic rock, pop and other catalogues as well as new releases from those acts. This year, the company has prepped a baker's dozen special vinyl titles for the RSD festivities on Saturday,
This is What You Need: INXS Remix and Expand 'Listen Like Thieves'
INXS' breakthrough album is getting the red carpet treatment for its 40th anniversary. The Australian group's 1985 effort Listen Like Thieves is getting a multi-format reissue this spring...and while it will be available around the world, there's a slight catch: each format has different and unique bonus material. The centerpiece of the campaign, in stores May 9, is a 3CD/LP box set featuring a new remix of the original album by Giles Martin and Paul Hicks plus two discs of unreleased
Found All the Parts: Music on Vinyl Reissues Cheap Trick Albums Box
Elo, kiddies! An out-of-print Cheap Trick box set is coming back to CD as well as a first-time LP adaptation for Music on Vinyl. The Complete Epic Albums Collection, originally released in 2013 as part of a flurry of similar box sets from Legacy Recordings, captured just nearly everything Rockford's finest put out between 1977 and 1990, including their first 11 studio albums (including the first-time physical release of the "authorized" version of 1983's Next Position Please), an expanded
They Will Have Their Way: Legacy Plans Packed Record Store Day Slate
Is it just us, or has Record Store Day felt a little muted in recent years? Obviously the annual Black Friday celebration boasts less titles than the festivities held every April, but it's sometimes been a struggle to identify great archival titles or worthy re-pressed discs. Well, that certainly isn't the case this year: labels seem to have gone into overdrive stockpiling interesting LPs and singles worth a second (or first!) look - and one of the strongest showings might be Sony Music's Legacy
The Weekend Stream: February 8, 2025
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 new music from Elton John and Bob Mould, a cult classic rock band between New Jersey and Boston, and so much more - including a new music video for one of our '70s songwriter favorites. Elton John & Brandi Carlile, "Who Believes in Angels?" (Rocket/Mercury/EMI) (iTunes / Amazon) In 2023, the British pop icon (fresh off the end
Where Dreams Are Born: John Williams' 'A.I.' Soundtrack Comes to Vinyl from Mondo
One of John Williams' more haunting works for the films of Steven Spielberg bows on vinyl from the Mondo label: his soundtrack to the 2001 film A.I. Artificial Intelligence. The 2LP set, recreating the original soundtrack album on either red and blue or white 140 gram vinyl (remastered by James Plotkin), is packaged in a Tyvek gatefold jacket - that's right, the high-density polyethylene material that protects structures from moisture that you've seen on a construction project or two - with
Release Yourself from Misery: Pete Townshend Collects Solo Albums (But No Bonus Tracks) for New Box
A prequel of sorts to UMC's box set of Pete Townshend live recordings is coming this spring: a simple collection of eight of his studio works. The Studio Albums brings together new CD pressings of Who Came First (1972), the Ronnie Lane collaboration Rough Mix (1977), Empty Glass (1980), All the Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes (1982), White City (A Novel) (1985), Iron Man (1989) and versions of Pyschoderelict (1993) with and without dialogue. While a 2006 reissue campaign from Hip-O Records
Leave Quite An Impression: Sabrina Carpenter's Grammy-Winning 'Short 'N' Sweet' Gets Expanded
Hot off her success at the Grammy Awards last weekend, pop star Sabrina Carpenter will reissue last year's breakthrough Short 'N' Sweet with a bevy of new tracks - including a duet with a country legend. The expanded Short 'N' Sweet - this year's winner for Best Pop Vocal Album and Best Pop Vocal Performance, and a nominee for Album of the Year - will be re-released this Friday, February 7 with five bonus tracks, including "Busy Woman" (a bonus track on a previous digital edition) and a new
Not So Simple Songs: Ace Records Compiles Sly Stone Covers
A timely new collection will pay tribute to the work of Sly & The Family Stone through a diverse group of covers and rarely-heard singles written and produced by the group's iconic frontman for others. Everybody is a Star - The Sly Stone Songbook is the latest entry in Ace Records' Songwriter Series, chronicling some of the greatest modern songwriters of the last century. Naturally, the man born Sylvester Stewart is a prime candidate for such an overview. His mix of R&B, funk, pop and
Image and Likeness: Andy Summers and Robert Fripp's Collaborations Revisited in New Collection
A unique team-up between two celebrated guitarists - Andy Summers of The Police and Robert Fripp of King Crimson - will be revisited this spring with a bevy of new material. The Complete Recordings 1981-1984 will expand and remaster the duo's two studio albums together - 1982's I Advance Masked and 1984's Bewitched - along with Mother Hold the Candle Steady, a newly-created album of outtakes from their sessions together. The Blu-ray Audio will include hi-resolution remasters of both albums,
The Weekend Stream: February 1, 2025
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! A new charity cover from Def Leppard, reissues of classic albums by Simple Minds and Sheena Easton, and a mess of vintage jazz is on the menu today - plus a heads-up for a forthcoming way to help the ongoing California wildfire relief effort. Def Leppard, Stand by Me (Bludgeon Riffola/Mercury/UMe) (iTunes / Amazon) While also a single