Hip-o Select has begun quite the marketing push for their upcoming release of The Jackson 5's Live at The Forum. They have set up an entire site devoted to it, featuring pictures, anecdotes and (best of all) streaming excerpts from the album ("Who's Lovin' You" is the first previewed track). The folks at the label have also made the mind-blowing decision to link to us on the site, so if you're a J5 fan who clicked through to The Second Disc, a special welcome to you! A very interesting
La-La Land Goes to "The Edge" with "Speed 2"
Bad puns all, I know. But the title at least lets you know that La-La Land continues its killer pace of getting great soundtracks to dig out from the vaults. Up for sale this week is two 20th Century Fox films from the '90s with Sony-owned soundtracks. Mark Mancina's score to Speed 2: Cruise Control, a score with more to offer than the silly, Sandra Bullock-led sequel to the action hit, makes its official debut on CD. Meanwhile, Jerry Goldsmith's score to The Edge, a David Mamet-penned nature
Close (To the Edit)
Not to disparage our treasured readers, but reader Shaun delivered one of the most thought-provoking comments on The Second Disc in awhile when discussing yesterday's post on a hypothetical Dave Matthews Band compilation. To quote: But what's with all the edits in your tracklist, Mike? Sorry, but I HATE when you buy a "best of" set and you get stuck with radio, single edits. Those hideous cuts on both "My Life" and "Pressure" on the original pressing of Billy Joel's Greatest Hits Vol I & II
Rhino Handmade Goes "On Tour" Plus a Bit of Live Dead
Rhino Handmade has announced its latest title, a thoroughly expanded edition of Delaney & Bonnie's seminal live LP On Tour with Eric Clapton. In late 1969, Delaney and Bonnie Bramlett embarked on a killer tour that included some of the best blues and rock musicians of the era. Clapton was the featured performer, to be sure, but that tour also included star turns from Leon Russell, Dave Mason of Traffic, Carl Radle, Jim Gordon and Bobby Whitlock (who would form Derek and The Dominos with
Hancock in a Box
A quick heads-up from the Twitter feed of music Web site Innerviews (thanks to MusicTAP for the heads-up) that Legacy plans on releasing yet another humongous box set for one of their artists. Jazz legend Herbie Hancock will join the ranks of Miles Davis, Elvis Presley and Bob Dylan in getting a super-sized box. CD Universe has a pre-order page for The Complete Columbia Collection, a 35-disc box encompassing everything Hancock did for the label, from 1973's Sextant to Perfect Machine (1988).
Under the Table and Dreaming (of a Better Compilation)
Last night at the Bonnaroo Music Festival, the venerable rockers of the Dave Matthews Band did an excellent job of putting the outdoor concert series to bed while kicking off yet another behemoth summer tour - their last before taking a previously-unheard-of break from touring in 2011 after some two decades on the road. The band, though still strong as ever, will benefit from the battery charge; the death of founding member LeRoi Moore in 2008 could have stopped them in their tracks, but they
Like Father, Like Son
Humorously enough, just as word spreads that a large Bob Dylan box set might be in the works, Interscope preps a catalogue compilation devoted to Mr. Zimmerman's son Jakob and his band The Wallflowers. Looking Through You - Another Collection will compile some of The Wallflowers' best-known odds and ends from singles, soundtracks and other compilations. The Wallflowers were a popular band in the late '90s alt-rock scene for a number of reasons. Yes, Jakob was the son of musical royalty, but his
Hip-O Preps Solo Smokey
Yet another late-day announcement from Hip-o Select: Universal's boutique label is starting up a series of Smokey Robinson's solo records for the Motown label groups. The series begins with The Solo Albums Volume I, available for pre-order now. The sets will bring Smokey's solo Motown catalogue back into print after a long hiatus from CD, starting with his first two solo efforts, Smokey (1973) and Pure Smokey (1974). The set will feature 24 pages of restored artwork, lyrics and liner notes
On the Radio
[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhTRQE2AELA] In the past week, The Second Disc has had a lot to say, whether it was about Prince, Scott Walker, Huey Lewis and The News or a few others. Every now and then, it's nice to turn the lens around to you, the reader, because we all have different songs and artists filling our head at any given time. We lead you to the weekend by throwing to another bit of open-ended discussion. Most of us were likely, in the words of Journey, raised on radio.
Friday Feature: "Batman (1989)"
And one last foray into the Prince catalogue on The Second Disc with what is arguably one of the dopiest entries in his catalogue. To some, it seems like a total work for hire, a hatchet job, a cash-in - and while that may be the case, it's kind of a fun listen. That's right: Prince's album devoted to the 1989 film Batman. The story goes that star Jack Nicholson was the one who suggested Prince to director Tim Burton. After editing two scenes to a temp track of Prince tunes ("1999" for the
Prince Week Day 7: Crystal Ball
In the penultimate entry of Prince Week (I know, this is Day 7, but we got one more piece for you tomorrow), The Second Disc turns its attention to one of the most fertile times in Prince's life. From 1986 to 1987, just two short years, His Royal Badness managed to record enough material for a good four or five albums; it should go without saying that this material would be greatly served in a box set from Rhino at some point in time. Hit the jump to get your world rocked with a story of lots
Box Set Round-Up: Hank Williams and Level 42
There's a pair you'd never expect to see in the same title. A few bits of news around the way regarding a few box sets coming up. First up, Time-Life has got a really large box set of Hank Williams material coming out. The Complete Mother's Best Recordings...Plus! is a 16-disc box set (including a DVD) of all Williams legendary, surviving recordings for Nashville radio station WSM (where he had his own show sponsored by Mother's Best Flour). These 72 acetates were recorded through 1951, two
The Setlist Situation, Part II
A huge debt to Vintage Vinyl News for posting the track lists of the upcoming batch of Setlist compilations from Legacy Recordings. If you haven't been following these titles, Sony's reissue label is releasing 11 budget-oriented live compilations (basically a live counterpart to their successful and sometimes collector-worthy Playlist series) on July 13. Happily, VVN's post (the information of which comes from Legacy itself) shows the discs seem rather forthcoming about recording information -
Prince Week Day 6: Life in the Madhouse
In determining what was going to make up the contents of Prince Week, a great deal of agonizing was endured over where to place Prince's many side projects. Prince, ever the purple brain trust, developed a lot of side projects over time, particularly during the beginning of his success as a pop artist. The Time, Sheila E. and Vanity 6 are still the best acts he ever squired in the early Paisley Park years, but there were plenty others that deserve a look back someday - and ultimately, the sheer
Prince Week Day 5: Prince in Other Places
Prince's influence has been discussed far and wide, from fashion to music videos to the actual, Hendrixian quality of his guitar playing. But it's always unusual when the mercurial purple genius decides to directly contribute to another artist's canon, particularly since one really never knows where he's going to end up next. What follows is a chronological list of ten of Prince's most interesting "guest appearances." Half of them are actual guest appearances, the other half either songs he
Reissue Theory: Green Day, "Dookie"
On this day, seminal '90s pop-punk band Green Day gets the kind of musical immortality only reserved for a select few. That's right, today's the day that the Green Day: Rock Band video game hits stores. Fans will finally be able to control Billie Joe Armstrong, Mike Dirnt and Tre Cool as they ascend from obscurity to supposed sellouts. If I've said it once, I've said it a million times: I don't get the concept of selling out at all. So many supposed fans get mad when their beloved local act
Soundtrack Reissue Round-Up: Beyond Thunderdome and Another Brian May
It might be premature to write about the film score news of the day - especially since the La-La Land label will be announcing some titles later today - but a few labels have announced some worthwhile titles to kick off your Tuesday morning. Although it was announced late last month, the Tadlow Music label is now shipping copies of the complete score to Mad Max: Beyond Thunderdome, composed and conducted by Maurice Jarre (an Oscar winner for Lawrence of Arabia and Doctor Zhivago). This deluxe
Reissue Theory: A Huey Two-Fer
For whatever reason, your loyal reissue reporter has been listening to a lot of Huey Lewis and The News. No, it's not a Patrick Bateman thing. It's just that The News - that pub-rock ensemble that powered a lot of mid-'80s radio - are just crazy listenable. They really bridged a gap between straight-up blues-rock and synth-driven pop, creating a style that really holds up some 25 years or so later. It's a style that's kind of underrepresented on CD, though. Sports was expanded in 1999 with live
Prince Week Day 4: The Reissue Conundrum
Talking about Prince on a blog devoted to back catalogue music usually results in three considerations: 1) Prince really should allow remasters/reissues of his astounding discography, 2) Prince won't ever allow remasters/reissues of said discography and 3) why the heck not? As many of his fellow contemporaries (Madonna, Michael Jackson, Rick James, etc.) and other luminaries (The Rolling Stones, Jimi Hendrix, even The Beatles) have enjoyed remastering and rediscovery on compact disc, Prince has
Prince Week Day 3: He Would Die 4 U
This particular installment of Prince Week is an unorthodox one. The Second Disc is usually a place for just catalogue type stuff, since that is the gateway to most of our feelings about classic music. But sometimes the feelings themselves are worth writing about, if they're particularly strong. It's with this in mind that The Second Disc presents a bit of an emotions-based look at Prince's music. The following (admittedly lengthy) essay is something I've worked on for a few years in college,
Prince Week Day 2: A Compilation Comparison
We continue our Prince week with a little something for the fans out there that may have never caught on to His Royal Badness enough to buy any of his music. Often times, in cases where you want to get a firm start on following an artist, a greatest-hits compilation is the way to go. But Prince, like many other rock legends, has more than one such set on the market. And money's tight for a lot of folks. So which one do you end up buying? Follow the jump for a detailed breakdown of each one.
It Might Be (The Soundtrack for) You
The Film Score Monthly label has prepped another two titles for release: two very different scores from two different composers, but winners both. First up is Jerry Goldsmith's in-demand score for the Sean Connery space Western Outland (1981). Goldsmith created a score that resembled his suspenseful approach to Alien from two years before, and it was augmented by some last-minute additions by Michael Boddicker (Buckaroo Banzai, Flashdance and session work for Michael Jackson) and Morton Stevens
Weezer Going Back to the Good Life
A hat tip to Pause & Play for posting the Amazon pre-order link for a Deluxe Edition of Pinkerton, the sophomore LP by alt-rock stalwarts Weezer, coming from Geffen and UMe. When it was released in 1996, Pinkerton was ill-received by critics and fans expecting a traditional follow-up to the band's excellent self-titled debut, which featured hooky garage-pop with Ric Ocasek of The Cars in the producer's chair. By contrast, Pinkerton - initially conceived as a space-rock opera called Songs
Friday Feature: Prince on Film
The Second Disc reader Robert Altman was predicting the future when he suggested a week devoted to Prince a few days ago. Prince - one of the most polarizing and intriguing figures to ever saunter onto the pop music scene - deserves reams (or gigabytes, in this case) written about his music and its impact, and The Second Disc promises to deliver in that regard. From this Friday to next Friday - going right through Prince's 52nd birthday on Monday - TSD will present a few features on Prince's
Take Them On...Later
Another quick update on a catalogue reissue: Rhino has pushed back the shipping date of the upcoming Deluxe Editions of a-ha's Hunting High and Low and Scoundrel Days to July 6 in the U.S. and August 6 in the U.K. All together now: noooooooooooo.
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