Features / Holiday Gift Guide

Holiday Gift Guide Review: Margaret Whiting, “Let’s Fall in Love: The Lost Recordings Vol. 2”

December 19, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments
Margaret Whiting Lets Fall in Love

Three years ago, Sepia Records and My Ideal Music celebrated the late, great Margaret Whiting with Dream: The Lost Recordings, a 2-CD collection of rare radio performances. Now, the long-awaited follow-up has arrived. Let’s Fall in Love: The Lost Recordings Vol. 2 has been worth the wait. Like the first volume, the recordings premiering on Let’s Fall in Love – a whopping 56 songs, complementing the 57 on Volume 1 – have been culled from The Barry Wood Show, a syndicated radio program for which over 100 complete shows happily still exist…

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Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: Cherry Red’s Esoteric and Grapefruit Imprints Offer Diverse Box Sets

December 19, 2019 by Joe Marchese | No Comments
Across the Great Divide

Cherry Red’s ongoing series of small clamshell box sets filled with big content make for the perfect stocking stuffer! Here’s a look at three more titles you might have missed… Climax Blues Band’s The Albums 1973-1976 is the second such box set released this year by Cherry Red’s Esoteric Recordings imprint, following The Albums 1969-1972. This 4-CD set contains the following albums, culminating in the biggest commercial triumph for the band that began its life as The Climax Chicago Blues Band: FM Live (1973); Sense of Direction (1971); Stamp Album (1975); and…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: David Bowie, “Conversation Piece”

December 17, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment
David Bowie Conversation Piece

The new David Bowie box set is entitled Conversation Piece – and it’s an apt one, as this set is certain to inspire conversations punctuated with cheers. Quite simply, this slipcased, hardcover-book style collection featuring five CDs of material recorded by the late superstar in 1968-1969 is one of the year’s best boxes: an exquisite, museum-quality release that exceeds all expectations. Necessity may indeed be the mother of invention, as the set ostensibly exists because of the desire to keep Bowie’s works from that year under copyright. Parlophone released much of the…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: “A Voice of the Warm: The Life of Rod McKuen” by Barry Alfonso

December 16, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments
A Voice of the Warm Rod McKuen scaled

“Come with me/What wonders we’ll find,” sings Rod McKuen to open his lilting waltz “Kaleidoscope” in his recognizable sandpaper voice. But the more revealing lyrics come later, when the poet-singer-songwriter asserts, “You’ll look in my eyes and see you.” Over a career spanning seven decades – but particularly during a purple patch in the late 1960s and early 1970s – McKuen’s loyal legion of fans saw themselves in his deceptively simple art. His empathetic words conveyed the beauty of everyday life, and his comforting pop melodies offered a balm for troubled times….

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Pink Floyd’s “The Later Years, 1987-2019” Will Leave You Lost For Words

December 13, 2019 by Sam Stone | 3 Comments
PinkFloyd TheLaterYears spotify

Fans were no doubt lost for words when Pink Floyd and Legacy Recordings announced the December 13 release of The Later Years 1987-2019, the massive new set celebrating the David Gilmour-led era of the legendary band. Well, the set has landed at Second Disc HQ – nearly crushing the front porch in the process – and we’re thrilled to include it as part of our Holiday Gift Guide. The Later Years is the ultimate celebration of this sometimes-maligned era, bringing together remixed studio albums and live releases, unreleased concert recordings, a wealth…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: MoFi Gives the Audiophile Treatment to Dylan’s “Blood on The Tracks” and J. Geils’ “The Morning After”

December 10, 2019 by Sam Stone | No Comments
BobDylan BloodontheTracks MFSL45UD1S

Over the years, Mobile Fidelity has cemented itself as one of the leaders in the audiophile re-issue realm.  From deluxe 45rpm box set affairs to more bare-bones remasters, the label has been known to go the extra mile to make every album sound its best.  Two of their recent reissues have arrived at Second Disc HQ: the extravagant 45rpm One-Step remaster of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks and the slimmed-down remaster of J. Geils Band’s The Morning After.  Both titles are sure to please that audiophile on your gift-giving list! Admittedly,…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Bear Family Explores “The Bakersfield Sound” on New Box Set

December 9, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments
The Bakersfield Sound

Get Along Down to Town Bakersfield, California is a long way from Nashville – a little under 2,020 miles west, actually. But the distance isn’t quite as great when one considers how much significant country music came out of the city in Kern County. Recent years have seen numerous reissues from legendary Bakersfield artists like Buck Owens and Merle Haggard, as well as a fine exhibit at the Country Music Hall of Fame. But now Bear Family Records has delivered the ultimate tribute to the city’s remarkable legacy of music. The Bakersfield…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Jewel, “Joy: A Holiday Collection” [Reissue]

December 6, 2019 by Joe Marchese | No Comments
Jewel A Holiday Collection

In 1999, singer-songwriter Jewel teamed with veteran producer-arranger Arif Mardin (Aretha Franklin, Dusty Springfield) for Joy: A Holiday Collection, her first Christmas album and third overall studio LP. Within a month of its release, it received a platinum certification, and it continues to be a perennial during the holiday season. Now, Craft Recordings has reissued the gentle album originally released on Atlantic Records for its vinyl premiere, as newly mastered by George Horn and Anne-Marie Suenram at Fantasy Studios. Joy made no concessions to modernity (and very few to pop), a style…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Replacements, “Dead Man’s Pop”

December 4, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments
The Replacements Dead Mans Pop Cover

One of the year’s most unexpected box sets – The Replacements’ Dead Man’s Pop, an alternative look at the band’s 1989 album Don’t Tell a Soul – has turned out to be one of its most exciting. The hell-raising Minneapolis rockers have proudly told the tale of stealing a clutch of tapes from their onetime home of Twin/Tone Records and chucking them into the Mississippi River back in 1987.  But happily, the ‘Mats and their associates were more careful about subsequent masters, and the next year, held onto the stash of tapes…

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THE SECOND DISC’S 2019 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!

December 2, 2019 by The Second Disc | 6 Comments
SteveMillerBand WelcomeToTheVault pl mr

Another Cyber Monday is here, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it’s time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring more than 50 essential selections for the music enthusiast in your life!  We’ve filled the guide with box sets (such as the Steve Miller Band title to your right!) as well as archival releases and Christmas music favorites that will make great stocking stuffers.  So just click here to access this year’s top picks, reflecting the diversity of music released this year in genres including rock, pop, soul, country, gospel, prog, jazz, folk, standards, Broadway,…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Doors, “The Soft Parade: 50th Anniversary Edition”

November 26, 2019 by Joe Marchese | 4 Comments
The Doors The Soft Parade 50th

Tell all the people that you see/Follow me… With those words penned by bandmate Robbie Krieger, Jim Morrison invited listeners to the world of The Doors’ fourth studio album, The Soft Parade. Originally released on July 18, 1969, it was the fourth consecutive top ten smash for Messrs. Morrison, Krieger, Manzarek, and Densmore, but in the ensuing years it’s also become one of the group’s most divisive – primarily for its extensive use of orchestral arrangements. To mark its fiftieth anniversary, Rhino has released The Soft Parade as the latest in its…

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Holiday Gift Guide Reviews: A Spotlight on Cherry Red’s Eclectic Offerings

November 25, 2019 by Sam Stone | 1 Comment
VA IHearANewWorld

The holidays are almost upon us, and The Second Disc will soon be launching our annual Holiday Gift Guide! As part of the festivities, we will also be offering long-form reviews over the next month about certain titles deserving of an extra spotlight. Today, Sam’s taking a look at a handful of recent releases from Cherry Red! Few labels can claim as diverse a roster as the Cherry Red group. Between their wealth of sub-divisions, there’s bound to be something special in store for everyone. As the temperatures drop and the holidays…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: “In The Heights” and “Be More Chill” Original Cast Albums [Vinyl Editions]

December 17, 2018 by Randy Fairman | No Comments
Be More Chill Vinyl

For the Broadway fan on your holiday list this year we thought we would take a look at a couple of vinyl cast albums recently released by Ghostlight Records: In The Heights and Be More Chill. Seven years before he rose to superstardom with Hamilton, Lin-Manuel Miranda premiered his first musical on Broadway with In The Heights in 2008.  Miranda, who also starred, wrote the music and lyrics with the book written by Quiara Alegría Hudes.  The production was directed by Thomas Kail and choreographed by Andy Blankenbuehler – both of whom…

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Holiday Gift Guide Spotlight: Lulu, “Decade 1967-1976”

December 17, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 2 Comments
Lulu Decade Cover

Lulu (real name: Marie McDonald McLaughlin Lawrie) burst onto the scene in 1964 with her earthy, throaty rendition of The Isley Brothers’ “Shout!”  The fifteen-year old parlayed that memorable U.K. top ten hit into an international career that remains vibrant and active to this very day.  Lulu remained on Decca Records, the home of “Shout!,” for a two-year stint, departing the label in late 1966 to sign with producer Mickie Most EMI’s Columbia Records arm (not to be confused with the CBS-affiliated U.S. label).  Over the next, career-defining decade (which saw her…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Joni Mitchell, ‘Love Has Many Faces’ [8-LP Box Set]

December 11, 2018 by Sam Stone | 5 Comments
Joni Mitchell Love Has Many Faces Cover

It’s coming on Christmas… and just in time for the holidays, Rhino has treated Joni Mitchell fans with a new, 8-LP box set, Love Has Many Faces: A Quartet, A Ballet, Waiting To Be Danced.  Previously released in a 4-CD configuration in 2014, this Joni Mitchell-curated collection finds the celebrated songwriter, singer, and visual artist exploring the many contexts and definitions of love.  The result is a 53-song, four-act suite that craftily presents some of Joni’s best work in a compelling sequence, including 20 songs that are brand-new to vinyl. Love Has…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: R.E.M., “R.E.M. At The BBC”

December 10, 2018 by Randy Fairman | 2 Comments
REM at the BBC

“We were a fun party band who somewhere along the way learnt how to write songs,” Michael Stipe is quoted as saying in the notes to Craft’s Recordings new boxset R.E.M. At The BBC.  Of course, R.E.M. was much more than that over the course of their nearly 30-year career, going from college underground band to alternative pioneers to global superstars.  And with Craft Recordings’ new 8-CD/1-DVD box, you can trace that career as seen and heard by UK audiences over the years. The quartet of Stipe (lead vocals), Bill Berry (drums),…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Lefty Frizzell, “An Article from Life: The Complete Recordings”

December 5, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 3 Comments
Lefty Frizzell An Article from Life

The music of William Orville “Lefty” Frizzell (1928-1975), one of the most influential honky-tonk singers of all time, has long been a cornerstone of the Bear Family catalogue.  The German reissue specialists first compiled the Frizzell oeuvre in 1984 as a 14-LP box set, updating that in 1992 on 12 CDs.  Now, more than 25 years later, the Bears have returned to the country-and-western troubadour’s career for the most definitive chronicle ever.  An Article from Life: The Complete Recordings has every one of Frizzell’s original recordings presented on 20 CDs in a…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Neil Diamond, “50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition”

December 3, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 5 Comments
Neil Diamond 50th Collectors Edition Cover

I. I Got the Feelin’ In his 1966 debut single for Bang Records, Neil Diamond famously declared himself a “Solitary Man.”  But the New York singer-songwriter wasn’t to be solitary for very long, as he soon gained the worldwide audience that, over 50 years later, still follows each one of his musical endeavors.  Diamond has just looked back on his remarkable career on a handsome new box set from Capitol Records and UMe.  50th Anniversary Collector’s Edition expands upon the similarly-titled 2017 release, more than doubling its 50 tracks on 3 CDs…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Elvis Presley, “’68 Comeback Special: 50th Anniversary Edition”

November 30, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 1 Comment
Elvis 68 Comeback Box

Elvis had a lot riding on his December 1968 NBC-TV special.  Once the brightest star in the galaxy – and one whose every freeing move caused ripples in American society – he was no longer at the top of the charts.  A string of lightweight movie musicals had rendered the once-“dangerous” entertainer as wholesome as apple pie.  At the time of the broadcast, Elvis’ most recent single (“Guitar Man”) had failed to crack the top 40 and he hadn’t had a chart-topper since “Good Luck Charm” in 1962.  He hadn’t appeared live…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Eagles, “Legacy”

November 28, 2018 by Joe Marchese | 5 Comments
Eagles Legacy Cover

Just Find a Place to Make Your Stand On the list of the United States’ five best-selling albums of all time, one name stands tall – the only artist to lay claim to two of those five titles.  That artist is, of course, a band: Eagles.  1976’s Their Greatest Hits (1971-1975) sits atop the list at 38 million copies sold; Hotel California is third with 26 million.  The ten tracks on the former are all modern-day standards, each and every one of them still a radio staple.  Though the original line-up is…

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THE SECOND DISC’S 2018 HOLIDAY GIFT GUIDE IS HERE!

November 26, 2018 by The Second Disc | No Comments
David Bowie Loving the Alien Cover

Another Cyber Monday is upon us, which means one thing at Second Disc HQ: it’s time to launch our annual Holiday Gift Guide, featuring more than 50 essential selections for the music enthusiast in your life!  We’ve filled the guide with box sets (such as the David Bowie title to your left!) as well as archival releases and holiday music favorites that will make great stocking stuffers.  So just click here to access this year’s top picks, reflecting the diversity of music released this year in genres including rock, pop, country, gospel, prog, jazz, standards, classical, Broadway, and…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: Various Artists, “Stax Country”

December 22, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments
Stax Country

We’re continuing to look at the 60th anniversary releases from legendary R&B powerhouse label Stax Records with a single-CD or LP collection that just might make a perfect stocking stuffer! Stax Country (CR 00009), from Craft Recordings, takes a fresh look at some of the other, non-R&B music emanating from the corridors of Stax’s studios on East McLemore Avenue – in particular some “Sweet Country Music.”  That’s the title of the twangy ditty recorded in 1975 by Becki Bluefield which leads off this compilation.  Though Bluefield was an accomplished songwriter herself with…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: “The Stax Vinyl 7s Box”

December 21, 2017 by Joe Marchese | No Comments
Stax 7s

When it comes to Stax Records’ 60th anniversary celebration, why should CDs have all the fun? The vinyl release of The Stax Vinyl 7s Box from Concord and UMC (STX 00252) brings fourteen rare tracks from across the Stax family of labels to seven 45 RPM singles, all emblazoned with the familiar yellow, finger-snapping logo.  Compiler Richard Searling’s raison d’etre is a simple one, as he sets forth in the liner notes: “I’ve selected the content based on my experience of featuring these songs in clubs, on the radio, or just being…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: The Beatles, “The Christmas Records”

December 20, 2017 by Joe Marchese | 5 Comments
Beatles Christmas Records

Dear Beatle People… When the future Sir George Martin first encountered John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison, and Ringo Starr, he famously wasn’t impressed by their music.  “They weren’t hit material, I didn’t think, anyway,” he reflected to CBS News.  “But they had tremendous charisma, those guys.  I fell in love with them, really.  They were cheeky and they had this sparkle…”  That charisma and most definitely that sparkle shines through on a surprise new release just in time for the holiday season. The Christmas Records from Apple and Universal Music is…

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Holiday Gift Guide Review: INXS, ‘Kick 30’

December 20, 2017 by Mike Duquette | 4 Comments
INXS Kick

“All we’ve got is this moment,” INXS frontman Michael Hutchence implores in the band’s biggest American hit, “Need You Tonight.” But in the case of the band’s landmark sixth studio album Kick (1987), nothing could be further from the truth. The album, which sold more than nine million copies around the world and spun off five hit singles, has received no less than four expanded reissues in the last 15 years. In 2002, Atlantic Records and Rhino (who oversee the band’s catalogue in North America) remastered and expanded the album with four…

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