Earlier this year, Joni Mitchell brought her now-famous Joni Jam shows to the Hollywood Bowl for two sold-out evenings. A little more than 45 years ago, Mitchell closed out her North American tour with a series of shows some fifteen minutes away from the Bowl at the Greek Theatre; a selection from that concert closes the fourth volume of the Joni Mitchell Archives series of box sets. The Bowl shows proved another triumph for the artist who's now widely recognized for the innovations that
Holiday Gift Guide Review: 'Dearly Beloved: A Prince Celebration'
The holidays are a time of good cheer and gratitude, where we all (in theory) come together to share in a common joy. There has not been a lot of common joy if you're a Prince fan; we don't need to re-litigate it more than we did this summer, but it's worth noting that the quest to make intriguing, posthumous Prince projects under the current estate organization has maybe gotten worse than when we published our editorial. But there have been celebrations of The Purple One that honor his
1974: Kimono My House & Propaganda
1974 was a particularly prolific year for Sparks, with the Mael brothers releasing two LPs: Kimono My House and Propaganda. Now, Edsel has reissued them both in a deluxe 3-CD set in 7-inch packaging. Sparks made quite an impression on the U.K. audience, with "This Town Ain't Big Enough for Both of Us" from Kimono reaching No. 2 on the Singles Chart and becoming the No. 30 hit of the year. They would follow it up with "Amateur Hour" from the same LP and then "Never Turn Your Back on Mother
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Alice Cooper, "Muscle of Love: Deluxe Edition"
Rare is the album that's better remembered for its packaging than its contents. But that may well be the case with the band Alice Cooper's seventh (and final) album, 1973's Muscle of Love. As it followed the Platinum-certified international chart-topper Billion Dollar Babies, hopes were high for the LP. It was greeted by lukewarm critical assessments, though, and "merely" reached No. 10 on the Billboard 200 and No. 34 on the U.K. Albums Chart. As such, it was inevitably considered a
The Definitive Collection
Formed by Richard "Rick" Thompson (guitar), Bill Risbrook (tenor saxophone), Carlos Ward (alto saxophone), Louis Risbrook (bass), Dennis Rowe (percussion), Terrell Wood (drums), and Barbara Joyce Lomas (vocals) in Brooklyn, New York, B.T. Express aligned themselves with producer Jeff Lane and the independent Roadshow Records before ending up on the Scepter label as it sought to reinvent itself following marquee artist Dionne Warwick's departure. Thanks to a Tom Moulton Mix, their catchy Scepter
Ship of Fools: The Island Albums
Cherry Red's Esoteric arm has revisited a key chapter in the Velvet Underground-related discography with a new box set containing John Cale's three Island Records albums, originally released in 1974-1975: Fear, Slow Dazzle, and Helen of Troy. Following his tenures at Columbia and Reprise, Cale was ready to embrace pure rock-and-roll, though he tempered any melodic accessibility with typically offbeat and often dark lyrics. Stylistically, these albums were all over the place with detours to
1992
Though Leo Sayer didn't write or co-write one of his two Pop chart-toppers - the Carole Bayer Sager/Albert Hammond composition "When I Need You" - his songwriter bona fides are nonetheless impressive including "The Show Must Go On," "One Man Band," "Long Tall Glasses (I Can Dance)" (all co-authored with David Courtney), "How Much Love" (with Barry Mann), and "You Make Me Feel Like Dancing" (with Vini Poncia and an uncredited Ray Parker, Jr.). Between 1990 and 2005, he didn't release any new
Ring the Bells and Sing: Progressive Sounds of 1975
Ring the Bells and Sing: with this new compilation, Esoteric Recordings takes a look at 1975 in progressive rock. By compiler Mark Powell's admission, "1975 is not often referred to as a year that produced a wealth of legendary music." He sets out to prove that assessment wrong with this 4-CD, 47-song compendium. The set stresses the international reach of prog as well as the art of the album as opposed to the single; while many of these artists weren't regular hitmakers, Powell stresses that
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Steve Martin, 'Steve in a Box'
At this point in time, CD box sets have been a going concern (especially around the holidays) for nearly 40 years. Thousands of them have been released, and with the unexpected shift toward listening on vinyl (who'd have thought?) and digital (particularly streaming, which has a near-total grasp on music consumption today), you've got to have a really strong angle to encourage fans to part with some extra money and add new titles to their shelves. What more can be done? you (and sometimes we at
Holiday Gift Guide Review: 'Mary Poppins: 60th Anniversary Collection'
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 Disney Studios in 1964.
Twilights Time: The Complete 1960s Recordings
The Twilights formed in Adelaide, Australia in 1964 by guitarist Peter Brideoake, bassist John Bywaters, and Clem "Paddy" McCartney and future Little River Band co-founder Glenn Shorrock on lead vocals. Shortly after forming, lead guitarist Terry Britten (who would go on to co-write such hit songs as "What's Love Got to Do with It") and drummer Laurie Pryor would join up as replacements for Kevin Peek and Frank Barnard, respectively. Despite charting nearly a dozen successful singles in
I Like It! Anthology 1963-1966
Liverpool's own Gerry and the Pacemakers were key players in the Merseybeat and British Invasion scenes with such timeless George Martin-produced hits as "Ferry Cross the Mersey," "How Do You Do It," and "Don't Let the Sun Catch You Crying." The Gerry Marsden-led group was definitively chronicled in 2008 on the EMI box set You'll Never Walk Alone: The EMI Years 1963-1966, with 123 tracks on 4 CDs. But now, more than 15 years have passed, and that set has become long out-of-print. So Cherry
Pour a Little Sugar on It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971
Perhaps the most fun release of the year - and certainly the sweetest - is this entry in Cherry Red's ongoing series of themed compilations. Pour a Little Sugar on It: The Chewy Chewy Sounds of American Bubblegum 1966-1971, on the Grapefruit imprint, brings together 91 tracks from the golden age of bubblegum music. Naturally, there are plenty of songs with food allusions ("Yummy Yummy Yummy," "Candy Apple Cotton Candy," "Gingersnap," and, of course, "Chewy Chewy" among them)...and artists with
Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bob Dylan and The Band, "The 1974 Live Recordings"
Big things often come in small packages. Such is the case with Legacy Recordings' recent excavation of Bob Dylan and The Band's 1974 tour. 40 concerts took place over 30 dates and 21 cities, with Dylan, Robbie Robertson, Garth Hudson, Richard Manuel, Levon Helm, and Rick Danko even playing two shows in one day in many markets. The 1974 Live Recordings takes the form of a tiny cube, packing in 27 discs and 431 tracks (417 of which are previously unreleased). The set contains every
Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, "1964 U.S. Albums in Mono"
Any Time at All Did The Beatles save rock and roll? If John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr didn't save the still-young form, they certainly gifted it with a reinvigorating, exhilarating jolt of musical euphoria the likes of which hadn't been seen before - and hasn't been duplicated since. The scene was early 1964. Buddy Holly was long gone, and the big hits had dried up - at the moment, at least - for Jerry Lee Lewis and Little Richard. Elvis had served his
Rock Billy Boogie: Expanded Edition
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 7a Records celebrates a late, great rockabilly revivalist with this expanded reissue of Rock Billy Boogie from Robert Gordon on both limited-edition 180-gram vinyl and CD. The 1979 album, featuring the lead guitar of Chris Spedding, marked Gordon's major label breakthrough and remains perhaps his finest (half) hour on record, featuring both original songs and energetic covers of familiar oldies
A Celebration
The full 3CD version of Judy Garland: A Celebration - Classic & Collectable Performances (also available as a 1LP "highlights" release) contains 73 tracks or more than 3 hours of music, including a dozen new-to-CD tracks, many from private collectors' archives, from the late superstar. These previously unreleased recordings include seven Capitol overdubs from her 1956 album Judy arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle, all freshly restored from acetates; rare television performances
The Alternate "Judy" Album: Unreleased Session Takes and More
The folks at High Definition Tape Transfers have unearthed a clutch of alternate takes from Judy Garland's 1956 Capitol album, Judy. These takes from those March 1956 sessions arranged and conducted by Nelson Riddle form the basis of this new digital release (also available on CD-R). Judy remains one of Garland's master classes in vocal interpretation - aided, in no small part, by Riddle's sympathetic charts - and so it's fascinating to gain a glimpse into her process with early versions of
THE SECOND DISC'S 2024 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!
Well, today is Cyber Monday, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it's time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring (more than) a few of our favorite things for the music enthusiast in your life. Sure, we might not have included raindrops on roses or whiskers on kittens, but we've filled the guide with over 50 essential selections: sprawling box sets and deluxe vinyl editions, as well as noteworthy releases on CD from favorite artists that just might make great stocking stuffers.
Wicked: The Soundtrack
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Target (with fold-out poster) / Barnes & Noble (alternate cover) 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada / Target (split green/pink) What else can we say? Wicked just might be the most highly-anticipated film of the year, and here's the soundtrack (featuring the songs heard in Act One of the long-running Broadway musical...fans of Act Two will have to wait until the next movie!). Ariana Grande, Cynthia Erivo, Jeff Goldblum, Jonathan
Recording Broadway: A Life in Cast Albums
Thomas Z. Shepard is among the most celebrated of all classical and show music record producers, counting 12 Grammy Awards to his name (including four for the musicals of Stephen Sondheim). Now, Shepard (with co-author Gayden Wren) is telling his singular story of coming up through the ranks at Columbia and RCA at a most extraordinary time, and peeling the curtain back on how some of the most famous cast albums of all time - including the original Company and Sweeney Todd - were made. As an
The Man with the Golden Gun / Moonraker
La-La Land is closing out 2024 with an amazing pair of expanded releases: lovingly-restored John Barry scores to James Bond films The Man with the Golden Gun (1974) and Moonraker (1979), both reissued for their 50th and 45th anniversaries. Golden Gun, Roger Moore's second go-round as Ian Fleming's Agent 007, featured a Barry score with its now-standard pop song heard in the film's opening title sequence: a melodramatic number with lyrics by Don Black sung by "To Sir, with Love" singer Lulu.
Here We Are: Original Cast Recording
CD: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada 2LP: Amazon U.S. / Amazon U.K. / Amazon Canada Here's the vinyl debut of of the most hotly-anticipated cast recordings of the season: Here We Are, the final musical to feature music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim. (David Ives penned the book.) Bucking the recent trend of most cast recordings releasing digitally in advance of physical availability, both the CD and digital album arrived back in May. The album features David Hyde Pierce, Steven
A Christopher Cross Christmas
This Christmas album by "Sailing" and "Arthur's Theme" vocalist Christopher Cross was originally released in 2007. It contains the yacht rock pioneer's versions of 10 yuletide classics ("Silent Night," "I'll Be Home For Christmas," and "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas, among others) along with two original songs written with longtime collaborator Rob Meurer: "Does It Feel Like Christmas" and "A Dream of Peace at Christmastime." Cross produced the album himself but has guests on the
Christmas Jollies I + II: The Extra Jolly Edition
The Second Disc has teamed with SoulMusic Records for the definitive celebration of the Christmas disco/Philly soul classic. The Salsoul Orchestra's Christmas Jollies I + II: The Extra Jolly Edition brings together Vincent Montana, Jr.'s original Christmas Jollies plus Tom Moulton's complete 1992 remix and producer Patrick Adams' rare follow-up, Christmas Jollies II. But that's not all. The Extra Jolly Edition adds nearly a dozen bonus single versions and remixes (most of which are new to CD)
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