It looks like the first major remaster campaign for 2012 is going to be a re-release of the Public Image Ltd. catalogue, coming from EMI in England. The spectacular flameout of punk legends The Sex Pistols in 1978 wasn't enough to stop lead singer John Lydon - forever better known as Johnny Rotten - in his tracks. Lydon collaborated with guitarist Keith Levene and bassist Jah Wobble to form Public Image Ltd., a band as noisy and rebellious as the Pistols but with a bit more room for creativity
Film Score Monthly is "Frantic"
It's a new year, and with that new year comes the knowledge that Film Score Monthly is getting closer and closer to its final release sometime this spring. But before you get frantic about that, enjoy their latest title, released last week: the soundtrack to Frantic. The 1988 Roman Polanski film featured Harrison Ford as an American doctor in Paris whose wife suddenly disappears from their hotel. His against-all-odds search for her - without the aid of the skeptical French government or U.S.
May Your Days Be Merry and Bright
As another year of amazing catalogue reissues and expansions comes to a close, and we gather around our loved ones to celebrate both a year gone by and a new one full of promise on the horizon, it seemed right to stop and take a moment to wish the same glad tidings to all of our treasured readers at The Second Disc. Since starting the site in January of 2010 - can you believe it's almost going on two years? - I've always worried about a lot of things, but none more potent than the idea that,
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 19 (#10-6)
It's the penultimate entry in our list of Rolling Stone's greatest albums of all time, as seen through the reissues that have filled our shelves for years. We've got some heavy hitters here: Beatles, Stones, Dylan - plus what may be the greatest punk and R&B albums ever. 10. The Beatles, The Beatles (Apple, 1968) The double-LP the world knows mostly by three other words - "The White Album" - was difficult and unusual inside and out. Most of the songs were conceived during an ultimately
Take It to the Bridge: Squeeze Frontman Releases New Set of Vintage Demos
Here's a treat for any of you British pop fans out there: another series of demos from Squeeze songwriter Glenn Tilbrook. When Daylight Appears: The Demo Tapes 1985-1991 spotlights Squeeze at one of their most underrated stages in a wildly underrated career. In 1985, the band ended a three-year breakup, reuniting singers/songwriters guitarists Tilbrook and Chris Difford, keyboardist Jools Holland (increasingly known outside of Squeeze for his burgeoning television host career on The Tube),
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 17 (#20-16)
We're in the Top 20 of Rolling Stone's Greatest Albums of All Time list, going through the various reissues and expansions of each one! This time, we have a Boss, a champion of a '90s rock revolution, a poet of the '60s - and starting right now, the King of Pop himself. Read on! 20. Michael Jackson, Thriller (Epic, 1982) Nine disparate songs, helmed by a producer of straightforward jazz and R&B, and performed by a 24-year-old former child star-turned-gawky but dedicated perfectionist. It
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 15 (#30-26)
It's time for another installment of our 100 Greatest Reissues list, taking Rolling Stone's list of the greatest albums of all time and investigating their many pressings and expansions as the catalogue industry has grown. Today, enjoy selections from three of the most beloved bands of all time, a pioneer in the blues field and our first selection, a singer/songwriter extraordinaire who proved that rock is not just for the guys. 30. Joni Mitchell, Blue (Reprise, 1971) To read the entries
The Fourth Day of Second Discmas
We're at the end of our first week of prizes for Second Discmas, and today's might be our best yet! We have a special bundle of prizes from our friends at Legacy Recordings: two packs of two very special box sets the label has done in the past few months. Today's titles are Miles Davis' The Bootleg Series Vol. 1: Live in Europe 1967, a 3-CD/1-DVD box set of unreleased performances by the legendary trumpeter's quintet, and Move Over!, a special box set of four 7" singles, made for Record Store
The Third Day of Second Discmas
It's the third day of Second Discmas, and what could be better than two copies of some Ben Folds rarities or three Spector compilations? How about five, count 'em, five Piano Men? Well, it's only one Piano Man; specifically, it's Piano Man by Billy Joel. But we're giving away five copies of Joel's legendary debut for Columbia Records, featuring the hits "Piano Man" and "Captain Jack." This remastered Legacy Edition also features, for the first time anywhere, Joel's 1972 performance at Sigma
The Second Day of Second Discmas
It's The Second Day of Second Discmas, our special form of holiday greetings to our loyal readers, and we've got another round of awesome giveaways for you today. Today, we've got another gift for you from our friends at Legacy Recordings. Sony's reissue arm has been diligent lately in releasing works from the esteemed Philles Records catalogue, from a series of greatest-hits albums to a fantastic, bonus-filled box of vintage albums from the label's discography. On The Second Day of Second
Peter Gabriel Makes It "So" for 2012, With Your Help
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-huvkhTChQE] With the pretty-great release of orchestral reinterpretation record New Blood under his belt, Peter Gabriel is looking back again by planning a reissue of his excellent 1986 album So - scheduled for 2012, a year after its 25th anniversary - and he wants your help. The in-development reissue is being worked on by Gabriel and his team; in the December installment of his Full Moon Updates, the singer revealed he's working with footage that was
Reissue Theory: R.E.M., "Holiday"
Welcome to another installment of Reissue Theory, where we focus on notable albums and the reissues they may someday see. It's the most wonderful time of the year, as you likely know, and we're celebrating with a recently-departed group of rock legends who made a few nights not-so-silent with a long running assortment of Christmas-oriented giveaways. Not too long ago, I took part in a lively chat with my fellow Popblerd! writers/occasional co-podcasters Mike Heyliger and Zack Stiegler about
Short Takes: Digital Vault Surprises from Metallica and Duran Duran
Today, we have a pair of vault releases from two acts with rich catalogues coming your way over the Internet. If you're a hard rock fan, the news of Metallica's recent 30th anniversary concerts, where they played hours of hits and rarities over four star-studded shows at San Francisco's Fillmore West, have probably got you really excited. (They have us excited at Second Disc HQ, too, thanks to a perfectly logical assumption that any celebration of a band this beloved is bound to lead to some
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 12 (#45-41)
You know the drill: Rolling Stone's 100 greatest albums of all time, as assessed by us in terms of their many reissues, to bring you the best-sounding and most thoroughly expanded editions for your buck. The Band literally plays on as we kick off this installment! 45. The Band, The Band (Capitol, 1969) After the great debut Music from Big Pink the year before, The Band drew on concepts of Americana and rural history for their follow-up. There was no sophomore slump here; guitarist Robbie
The First Day of Second Discmas
With Christmas less than two weeks away, we've of course been thinking about the best reissues and catalogue titles of 2011. But this year, we're celebrating a little bit differently: for the most giving time of the year, we reached out to some of our favorite reissue labels and are playing Santa Claus to our awesome and faithful readers. We're calling it - what else? - Second Discmas, and it's going on through the rest of the month! Our first giveaway is a real treat: If you love piano-based
Intrada Ends Banner Year, Boldly Goes Where Few Have Gone Before
Intrada knows how to another great year of soundtracks: with three oft-requested and legendary soundtracks, all expanded and mostly unlimited. By far the biggest news for contemporary score fans is the news of another expanded score from the Star Trek universe. The past few years have seen expanded scores for four Trek films (1982's The Wrath of Khan, 1984's The Search for Spock, 1989's The Final Frontier and 2009's reboot of the franchise) and two collections of music from the beloved The Next
Release Round-Up: Week of December 13
The Marvelettes, Forever More: The Complete Motown Albums, Volume 2 (Hip-o Select/Motown) A four-disc box presenting the last four of The Marvelettes' albums (two of which are in stereo and mono) alongside rare and unreleased gems from the storied Motown vaults. Smokey Robinson, The Solo Albums Volume 6: Warm Thoughts / Being with You (Hip-o Select/Motown) Smokey's early-'80s comeback, represented with these two LPs on one CD (Warm Thoughts bows on the format for the first time!) along with a
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 11 (#50-46)
And so starts the second half of our 100 Greatest Reissues feature! We've taken Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of all time from 2003 and scoured the history of each one on compact disc, making note of masterings, packaging and bonus tracks wherever possible. These next five are some of the definitive statements in their respective genres, from rock to rap to reggae to jazz; we're sure there's something for everyone in this entry! 50. Little Richard, Here's Little
Christmas' Other Big Man: Unreleased Clarence Clemons Holiday Recordings Discovered
What would Christmas be without the sound of Clarence Clemons' saxophone ringing out through C.W. Post on Long Island as Bruce Springsteen and The E Street Band ran through a spirited rendition of "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" on December 12, 1975. The Big Man's saxophone solo is a high point of the searing live take - released first on the Sesame Street compilation In Harmony 2 in 1982 and again on the flipside of the "My Hometown" single in 1985 - and his jovial "ho ho ho"s are enough to get
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 9 (#60-55)
We're nearing the halfway point of our list of all the reissues of Rolling Stone's list of the 100 greatest albums of all time. How many do you have? What are your favorites? Which ones need reissues? Don't be afraid to sound off! Today's installment has a few of my own favorite albums, and all-around classics to boot. 60. Sly & The Family Stone, Greatest Hits (Epic, 1970) Including tracks from Dance to the Music, Life and Stand! - three excellent '60s funk albums - was impressive
Short Takes: Paul is Digital, New Rock Hall Class, Rush Box Issues, The Cure Make "Wish" for 2012
Paul McCartney is not dead, but he is digital: a new beta version of his website, developed with Hewlett-Packard, brings his solo catalogue to fans through a cloud service, along with a host of interactive features. Fans can stream all of his studio albums (including collaboration projects like The Fireman and Twin Freaks) through a jukebox, and premium members can download that jukebox as a desktop app. Additionally, a new "Rude Studio" section of his site allows fans to play and mix
Herrmann at Fox Box: A Surprising Sell-Out
When Varese Sarabande announced their last release of the year to be "a whopper," they weren't kidding. What's more surprising, though, is the reception it received. Bernard Herrmann at 20th Century-Fox continues the label's yearlong celebration of his life and work in what would have been his centennial year. (Compilations from his television work with Alfred Hitchcock and and expanded version of his co-written score to The Egyptian were other Varese sets honoring the composer this year.)
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 7 (#70-66)
Our look at the many reissues of the 100 greatest albums of all time, as selected by Rolling Stone in 2003, soldiers on! We look at the masterings and expansions of these classic albums on disc, letting you know which audio treasures can be found on which releases. Today's a full house of rock royalty, with a Piano Man, a King of Pop, a soul legend and two albums by Led Zeppelin! 70. Led Zeppelin, Physical Graffiti (Swan Song, 1975) Led Zeppelin's sixth album could've easily not happened had
Release Round-Up: Week of December 6
Neil Diamond, The Very Best of Neil Diamond (Columbia/Legacy) A new single-disc greatest hits compilation that unites classic Columbia stuff with early works for Bang and Universal and the excellent, newer stuff he's been doing with producer Rick Rubin. The E.T. song, though? Not here. Watch for Joe's review later today! Amy Winehouse, Lioness: Hidden Treasures (Universal Republic) The late, lamented neo-soul singer memorialized with a posthumous album. Fred Wesley & The J.B.'s, The
The Second Disc Buyers Guide: The 100 Greatest Reissues of All Time, Part 6 (#75-71)
The hits just keep on coming! The latest part of our TSD Buyers Guide, which counts the reissues of the albums in Rolling Stone's 100 greatest albums of all time (as selected in 2003), features some classic hard rock and soul and a lot of CD pressings (if not as many bonus tracks in this batch). We begin below with one of the heaviest albums of all time! 75. Led Zeppelin, Led Zeppelin II (Atlantic, 1969) Led Zeppelin II is arguably the band's heaviest and rawest work in studio, in part
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