Are you ready to hear Bobby Darin like you've never heard him before? The musical superstar joined Motown Records in 1970, inaugurating the final phase in a remarkable career that saw him transform from a rock-and-roll teen idol to a sophisticated swinger to a socially conscious folkie. Yet before his tragic death at the age of 37 in 1973, Darin only released one album and a handful of singles for Berry Gordy's legendary label. A few posthumous recordings followed in 1974 and a live album in
Thinkin’ of a Master Plan: Eric B. & Rakim Discography Compiled In Vinyl/CD Box Set
UMe is revisiting the catalogue of influential hip-hop act Eric B. and Rakim with the July 13 release of a new box set. The Complete Collection 1987-1992, on 8 LPs and 2 CDs, brings together all four of the duo's classic albums (on the 4th & Broadway, Uni, and MCA labels) on eight vinyl LPs plus two CDs of remixes. Eric B. (Eric Barrier) was the DJ of the duo, and Rakim (William Griffin Jr., later Rakim Allah) the MC. Eric B.'s love of James Brown inspired a reassessment of The Godfather
Release Round-Up: Week of July 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Beatles, Yellow Submarine [7-Inch Single] (Capitol/Apple/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Beatles' "Yellow Submarine" b/w "Eleanor Rigby" returns to 7-inch vinyl as a picture disc single to mark the 50th anniversary of the animated film classic. It will be housed in a die-cut card sleeve. Read more here. Judy Garland, I Can't Give You Anything But Love 1938-1961 (Jasmine) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon
Release Round-Up: Week of June 29
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Supremes, Sing Holland-Dozier-Holland: Expanded Edition (Motown/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) The Supremes' smash 1967 album featuring "You Keep Me Hangin' On" and "Love Is Here and Now You're Gone" gets a must-have 2-CD deluxe treatment, including the original mono and stereo albums, rarities, outtakes, remixes, and a live set from The Copacabana in 1967 featuring one of the last joint performances of Diana Ross, Mary
Release Round-Up: Week of June 22
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Cure, Mixed Up: Deluxe Edition (Universal (U.K.)/Elektra/Rhino (U.S.)) 1CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Mixed Up 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Torn Down 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Postponed from last week: The Cure revisits its 1990 remix album as a 3-CD deluxe edition. The first disc of the new set contains the original Mixed Up album,
Release Round-Up: Week of June 8
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Johnny Mathis, Close to You/Love Story: Expanded Edition (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music continue their journey through Johnny Mathis' seventies catalogue with this expanded, remastered two-fer of Mathis' 1970 and 1971 albums. Close to You finds the singer reinterpreting hits by Bacharach and David, Antonio Carlos Jobim, The Beatles, and even Santana, while Love Story
Thank You For The ‘Days’: Edsel Preps Kirsty MacColl’s Virgin Years For New Box
On June 15, Edsel will remember the late singer-songwriter Kirsty MacColl with the release of a new 4CD/1DVD box set. Days (1988-1991) collects her Virgin Records period which yielded two albums and various singles. MacColl's unique voice was first heard on her single for Stiff Records, the peppy "They Don't Know." Despite strong airplay, the single actually never charted on the U.K. charts, the victim of a distributor's strike keeping the single from experiencing any major sales. (In 1983,
Magic Moments Filled with Love: Perry Como Celebrated On Public Television, New Box Set and More
May 18, 2018 would have marked Perry Como's 106th birthday. While the beloved singer didn't make it to 106, he lived a full 88 years which he packed with magic moments on records, film, television, and the world's concert stages. All told, the proudly Italian-American crooner notched 131 chart hits in the U.S. alone, over 20 gold records, multiple Emmy and Grammy Awards, a Kennedy Center Honor, and sales of over 100 million records between 1945 and 1970 alone. This weekend, fans are invited
Release Round-Up: Week of June 1
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Michelle Phillips, Victim of Romance: Expanded Edition (Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) "Mama" Michelle Phillips' 1977 solo album, produced by Jack Nitzsche, returns to CD in a new expanded edition collecting the artist's complete sessions with Nitzsche. It adds three outtakes from the album sessions, including a Bee Gees cover ("Had a Lot of Love Last Night"), Dennis Lambert and Fil Spina's "Practice What You Preach,"
I’ve Waited Hours For This: The Cure Expand ‘Mixed Up’ With New and Vintage Remixes
The Cure kicked off the 1990s with the release of Mixed Up, an album collecting the band's rarer 12-inch mixes. It wasn't just a straightforward anthology, however, as two songs ("A Forest" and "The Walk") weren't just remixed, but re-recorded, and a wholly new track ("Never Enough") was also recorded. As Robert Smith comments, Brian "Chuck" New's dub style remix of "Pictures Of You" inspired him: "That mix turned the music on its head, but at the same time left the essential heart of the song
Release Round-Up: Week of May 25
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Prince, Nothing Compares 2 U (Warner Bros.) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Prince's original recording of "Nothing Compares 2 U" arrives on vinyl today for wide release. The original Prince studio version was recorded at the Flying Cloud Warehouse in Eden Prairie, Minnesota by engineer Susan Rogers and featured background vocals by Susannah Melvoin and Paul "St. Paul" Peterson as well as saxophone by Eric Leeds. Prince composed,
BREAKING! Second Disc Records, Real Gone Music Unearth Never-Before-Heard Bobby Darin on “Go Ahead and Back Up: The Lost Motown Masters”
Bobby Darin joined Motown Records in 1970, inaugurating the final phase in a remarkable career that saw him transform from a rock-and-roll teen idol to a sophisticated swinger to a socially conscious folkie. Yet before his tragic death at the age of 37 in 1973, Darin only released one album and a handful of singles for Berry Gordy's legendary label. A few posthumous recordings followed in 1974 and a live album in 1987, but the story stayed the same: that despite the best efforts of all,
Baby, They’ve Got It! Ace Raids Motown Vaults for “More Motown Girls”
Back in 2013, Ace Records launched its first collection of Motown Girls, spotlighting previously unreleased tracks from the legendary ladies of Motown Records. A second installment arrived in 2015, and now, we're finally the recipient of a third volume in the series. The 24-song anthology Baby I've Got It! More Motown Girls boasts 16 previously unreleased tracks, with the remaining eight drawn from the Motown Unreleased compilations (all of which have been digital-only except for the one
Release Round-Up: Week of May 4
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! Frank Sinatra, Standing Room Only (Capitol/UMe) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) This new 3-CD, book-style box set from Capitol/UMe features three spectacular live concerts from three decades of Frank Sinatra's storied career, including the January 28. 1966 second show with The Count Basie Orchestra and conductor Quincy Jones at The Sands in Las Vegas, making its CD debut; and two previously unreleased shows: October 7, 1974 at
The Second Disc’s 2018 Record Store Day Must-Haves
Welcome to our annual rundown of Must-Haves for this year's Record Store Day event! Once you're through reading, let us know what you're most looking forward to picking up tomorrow at your favorite local independent retailer! Our list features just a sampling of our favorites from our friends at Legacy Recordings, Varese Sarabande, Rhino Records, Real Gone Music, Demon Music Group, Walt Disney Records, Omnivore Recordings, and more! Joe's kicking things off with five essential picks (in
Release Round-Up: Week of April 20
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! The Who, Live at the Fillmore East 1968 (UMe) 2CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 3LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada The Who's April 6, 1968 concert from New York's Fillmore East gets its first-ever official release just in time for its 50th anniversary. For the occasion, it's been restored and fully remixed from the original four-track tapes by longtime Who engineer Bob Pridden, who was responsible for the mix heard
Release Round-Up: Week of April 13
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up! David Bowie, Changestwobowie (Parlophone) CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada David Bowie's 1981 compilation spanning the period between Hunky Dory and Scary Monsters (And Super Creeps) returns to print for the first time in three decades in a newly remastered edition. Its ten tracks include "Starman," "Oh! You Pretty Things," single versions of "Fashion," "Ashes to Ashes," and
Release Round-Up: Week of April 6
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, and one of the biggest Release Fridays of the year to date! Chicago, VI Decades Live: This is What We Do (Rhino) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Chicago celebrates 50 years on the road with this expansive new box set featuring 4 CDs and 1 DVD of previously unreleased live music recorded between 1969 and 2014. This set includes two complete concerts - The Isle of Wight, 1970 on CD and a Rockpalast broadcast from Germany in 1977 on
Everything’s Coming Up Posies: Power Pop Group Work with Omnivore, PledgeMusic on Expanded Reissues (UPDATED 3/30)
UPDATE (3/30): These three previously reported expansions are now available to pre-order directly from Omnivore, with Amazon links coming soon! ORIGINAL POST (1/3/2018): Power pop masterminds The Posies will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year by teaming up with Omnivore Recordings and PledgeMusic for reissues of three albums recorded for DGC Records in the mid-'90s. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the core members of the group, released the first Posies album, Failure, in 1988.
Release Round-Up: Week of March 2
Welcome to this week's Release Round-Up, featuring three new titles from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music, and much, much more! Johnny Mathis, Raindrops Keep Fallin' on My Head: Expanded Edition (Second Disc/Real Gone) (Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada) Johnny Mathis' 1970 album - featuring the songs of Bacharach and David, Paul Simon, Jimmy Webb, George Harrison and others - gets its first-ever expanded CD reissue from Second Disc Records and Real Gone Music. And
Welcome to the Blackout: Three David Bowie Titles Announced for Record Store Day
If you're saving up for any of the exclusive vinyl titles available at the final David Bowie Is exhibition in Brooklyn announced earlier this week, make a little more space in the budget for the trio of Bowie titles announced for this year's Record Store Day (April 21, 2018). A host of rare and unreleased material will be made available on these discs, including an unreleased live show and a different version of the first rarity we heard from the Bowie camp this year. First up is Welcome to
Waiting in the Wings: Three Vinyl Exclusives Join Final ‘David Bowie Is’ Installation in New York
David Bowie Is, the stellar worldwide exhibition offering an unprecedented deep dive into the world of one of rock's greatest icons, is making its final bow this year, opening this Friday (March 2) at the Brooklyn Museum in New York and running there through July 15. A trio of exclusive vinyl titles, made available at the exhibition's shop, were announced today, offering color variants of two rare releases and a live mini-album with several unreleased tracks. First up is a reissue of "Time,"
He’s Ready: Chess and Universal to Release New Muddy Waters Collection
Universal Music Catalogue will issue a new collection celebrating the work of the bluesman born McKinley Morganfield but known the world over as Muddy Waters. Can't Be Satisfied: The Very Best of Muddy Waters 1948-1975 presents 40 classic tracks from across the singer/guitarist's tenure on the Chess label. Waters recorded for Chess for most of his life, after being discovered by Alan Lomax in the early 1940s for his Library of Congress-sanctioned sojourn to discover and record local country
Everything’s Coming Up Posies: Power Pop Group Work with Omnivore, PledgeMusic on Expanded Reissues
Power pop masterminds The Posies will celebrate their 30th anniversary this year by teaming up with Omnivore Recordings and PledgeMusic for reissues of three albums recorded for DGC Records in the mid-'90s. Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow, the core members of the group, released the first Posies album, Failure, in 1988. (That self-released title was reissued by Omnivore in 2014.) Signing to Geffen's rock subsidiary in 1990 (where they'd count Nirvana and Weezer as labelmates), the group's
The Year In Review – The 2017 Gold Bonus Disc Awards, From A to Z
Happy New Year, and welcome to The Second Disc's Eighth Annual Gold Bonus Disc Awards! As with every year's awards, our goals are simple: to recognize as many of the year's most essential reissues and catalogue titles as possible, and to celebrate as many of those labels, producers and artists who make these releases happen in the current retail landscape. The labels you'll read about below have, by and large, bucked the trends to prove that there's still a demand for physical catalogue music