Two decades ago, Mariah Carey's The Emancipation of Mimi was a dramatic comeback for the pop queen. This year, it's due for a comeback of its own with a heavy-duty deluxe edition. Available May 30, The Emancipation of Mimi (20th Anniversary Edition) arrives from UMe on five LPs offering a host of bonus material, including seven previously unreleased tracks and many more classic remixes. Billed as being "personally compiled" by Carey herself, the 45-track set comes with a 28-page booklet and a
He Wears It Well: Rod Stewart's 'Ultimate Hits' Due in June
Ahead of a prolific year of touring - and in the same year the British rocker turns 80 - a new career-spanning collection from Rod Stewart will be released this summer in multiple formats. Ultimate Hits, available June 27, offers Rod the Mod's most beloved solo hits from the '70s, '80s and '90s, from "Maggie May" and "Tonight's the Night (Gonna Be Alright)" to "Da Ya Think I'm Sexy?" and "Young Turks"; "Forever Young" and "Downtown Train" to "Have I Told You Lately" and "Rhythm of My Heart."
The Second Disc's Guide to Record Store Day 2025: Our Favorite Picks
Tomorrow, Record Store Day is once again upon us! It's that time of year where music lovers and vinyl flippers get together at their favorite physical music retailers and wait in line to snag some treasured albums - almost all of which are pressed on vinyl instead of CD (or, you know, sold on secondary marketplaces for above their retail value). This year, the list tops out at over 300 titles, so there's very nearly something for everybody. It wasn't easy to narrow our choices down to around
Have You Heard? Rhino's Newest Quadio Batch Includes Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, Beaver and Krause, Modern Jazz Quartet
Rhino's Quadio series is back! The ongoing series of four-channel surround Blu-ray Audio Discs has announced its latest four titles, available now directly from Rhino.com. This eclectic group encompasses releases from Rod Stewart, ZZ Top, The Modern Jazz Quartet, and Beaver and Krause. Rod Stewart's sixth album, 1975's Atlantic Crossing marked a new chapter for the Faces singer. Produced by Tom Dowd and recorded across various studios in North America, the album was sequenced with one
Are You Not Entertained? Two Hans Zimmer Scores Get Expansions from La-La Land, Intrada
After a recent new edition of his breakthrough soundtrack work, composer Hans Zimmer is the subject of not one but two film score reissues released this month. La-La Land Records announced for April a dramatic expansion of Zimmer's score for Gladiator. A modern take on sword-and-sandal epics released in 2000, Gladiator told the story of Maximus Decimus Meridius, a dedicated Roman general whose world is turned upside down by the murder of emperor Marcus Aurelius at the hands of his son, who
Every Move He Makes: Sting Plans Multiple Formats of '3.0 LIVE' Album
Sting is chronicling his latest back-to-basics tour with a multi-format live album - and you'll have to be quick (and lucky) to hear it all. The British rocker embarked on the 3.0 Tour last year; true to its name, Sting assembled a trio - having not toured with that few backing members since his days in The Police - consisting of longtime guitarist Dominic Miller and drummer Chris Maas. The result, which came to North and South American theaters as well as festival dates in Europe, was not
That's the Way (I Like It): Edsel Collects "More Sin," "More Deep '70s"
Edsel has recently continued a pair of box set series with the release of Disco Discharge Presents More Sin (1980-1989) and David Hepworth: More Deep '70s. In late 2023, Edsel revived the long-dormant Disco Discharge series with the first Box of Sin. This second volume, More Sin: Full Length Gay Clubbing, follows the template of the first, taking listeners on a journey through the gay club scene of the 1990s and tracing the development of dance music from disco to house. As Ian Wade puts it
Goody, Goody, Goody: Cherry Red Collects Mark Wirtz Rarities on "Dream, Dream, Dream"
The late Mark Wirtz (1943-2020) - a German-French songwriter-producer who found his biggest successes in England - is best-remembered for A Teenage Opera, an embryonic rock opera which inspired the likes of Pete Townshend and Paul McCartney and spawned Keith West's U.K. No. 2 single "Grocer Jack," a.k.a. "Excerpt from A Teenage Opera." Yet there was much more to Wirtz's discography than that lone hit and its parent project. Cherry Red's Strawberry imprint recently boxed up five discs of
I've Got a Secret: The Bongos to Release Archival Live Album
New Jersey power-pop band The Bongos have added some archival works to their digital catalogue in recent years, partnering with Legacy Recordings on expansions of their RCA recordings (including the 1983 EP Numbers with Wings, a pair of 12" mixes and 1985's Beat Hotel, and even a holiday track in 2023). This spring, they'll go back to the label where it all began - New Jersey's own JEM Recordings - to put some of that vault material out on CD for the first time. The Shroud of Touring: Live in
The Right Time: Iconoclassic Preps Reissues from Ian North, David Sancious, Natural Gas
Our friends at Iconoclassic Records are teeing up a prolific 2025 following their release earlier in the year of Dwight Twilley's Scuba Divers: Blueprint Edition. On April 25, the label will bring the late Ian North's 1979 album Neo to CD for the first time; that's followed on May 16 with David Sancious' 1981 set The Bridge. Then, on May 30, comes the Original Master Edition of Natural Gas' self-titled album - a fitting salute to the band's late Joey Molland. Brooklyn-born Ian North
Shut Out the Light: Bruce Springsteen Offers Seven Unheard Albums on 'Tracks II'
More than a quarter century after releasing his first major vault project, Bruce Springsteen is back with a sequel that's even bigger. True to its name, Tracks II: The Lost Albums 1983-2018 promises not just a wealth of unreleased recordings from the Thrill Hill vaults, as 1998's Tracks offered. This time, the rock icon presents seven full albums' worth of material, sharing thematic and recording cohesion and even, in some cases, seriously considered for release at one time or another.
Record Store Day 2025: The Best of the Rest
Next Saturday, April 12, is certainly one of the most packed Record Store Days in recent memory. Since the list was announced, we drilled down on titles from Craft Recordings, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, Universal Music Group, Real Gone Music, Omnivore Recordings, BMG, Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, as well as some notable titles that were getting later general releases on CD. Well, if you thought that was it, you're wrong! We pored and pored over the list and are here to share
King of the High Cs: Decca Celebrates Pavarotti with Reissues of Famed Compilation, Henry Mancini Collaboration
In a career spanning more than 50 years, Luciano Pavarotti brought opera to the masses, singing with a host of popular artists from Bono and Meat Loaf to Frank Sinatra and Elton John. He won five competitive Grammy Awards, a pair of Emmys, and a Kennedy Center Honor, along with numerous recognitions from his native Italy, France, and Monaco. At the time of his death on September 6, 2007 at the age of 71, he had sold over one hundred million records, while The Three Tenors - the opera
(Don't) Walk On By: Dionne Warwick's "Make It Easy on Yourself: The Scepter Recordings 1962-1971" Due in June on 12 CDs from SoulMusic, Second Disc
"I am so very thrilled about this wonderful collection of my recordings! It is truly something that I myself would buy." - Dionne Warwick, 2025 For more than six decades, Dionne Warwick has been synonymous with musical excellence. The six-time Grammy Award winner, 2024 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, and Kennedy Center Honoree remains one of the most-charted vocalists of all time, with a whopping 56 singles having made the Billboard Hot 100 between 1962 and 1998 and over 100 million
Whitesnake Remaster Five Live Albums for New Box Set
After years of reissues and remixes from hard-rockers Whitesnake at Rhino Records, you'd be forgiven for wondering what the label could still do with David Coverdale's catalogue. That question is now answered with a box set assembling remastered editions of five latter-day live records. Access All Areas: Live, available April 25, is an 8CD collection offering sets recorded between 2004 and 2015 and released over the last two decades. The albums featured are Live...In the Still of the
We Were So in Phase: Wang Chung Join Hits and Rarities on New Compilation
The time has come to take your baby by the hand and check out a new compilation from '80s pop hitmakers Wang Chung. The group will release a new double album of hits and rarities, Clear Light / Dark Matter, on May 9. It'll include the singles "Dance Hall Days," "Everybody Have Fun Tonight" and "Let's Go!" plus tracks from their cult classic soundtrack from the film To Live and Die in L.A. - along with rare material (including the A-side of their debut single) and even a few unreleased demos.
Get Together (With Yourself): High Moon Expands Lotti Golden's Cult Classic "Motor-Cycle"
"Motor-Cycle transported me back to the '60s in a way not many records do...There's no irony or second-guessing: Golden's all in, a psychedelic daughter of the Beat generation, among her equally hippie cohort, in swirls of free-loving, drug-chasing, multiracial, pan-sexual abandon... The album is a mother lode, not unlike Daniel Johnston or The Shaggs, say, for its multi-level fascination." High Moon Records has quoted groundbreaking punk legend Richard Hell in describing Lotti Golden's 1969
Another "Saturnight": Cat Stevens' 1974 Japan Live Album Comes to CD, Vinyl
Even today, Japan remains a thriving capital of recorded music - and, in particular, physical media. In the 1970s, it wasn't uncommon for top-tier American artists, from Andy Williams to The Supremes, to record live albums exclusively for the Japanese market. Among those artists was Yusuf, a.k.a. Cat Stevens, whose 1974's Saturnight: Live from Tokyo was the singer-songwriter's first concert LP. Now, following its reissue last November as part of Record Store Day's Black Friday event,
Cuts The Deepest: Edsel Celebrates P.P. Arnold on "Soul Survivor" Box Set
One of P.P. Arnold's early sides for Immediate Records was titled "Am I Still Dreaming?" The song, which the artist born Patricia Ann Cole in Los Angeles wrote at the encouragement of none other than Mick Jagger, is one of the 57 songs on 3 CDs assembled by Edsel Records on the dream of a box set appropriately entitled Soul Survivor: A Life in Song. The collection, compiled by the singer and Michael Mulligan, traces the onetime Ikette's career from her signing to Andrew Loog Oldham's label
Feel the Force: Disney to Release Japanese Box Set of 'Star Wars' Music with TV Scores Making CD Debuts
Fans making the pilgrimage to next month's Star Wars Celebration event in Japan can keep an eye out for a new box set fitting in perfectly with the country's commitment to music on CD. Available in limited quantities during the event at Makuhari Messe in Chiba City, Star Wars Celebration Japan 2025: Original Soundtrack Box Set brings together scores from 23 films and television series in the universe created by writer/director George Lucas, with exclusively designed artwork. While none of the
Their Latest Trick: Dire Straits Expands 'Brothers in Arms'
Dire Straits' biggest album is getting expanded for its 40th anniversary. 1985's Brothers in Arms will be available in a variety of formats, including a 3CD or 5LP set that pairs the classic album with a live show from the period. The album, which featured two of the band's biggest singles including the American chart-topper "Money for Nothing" and "Walk of Life," will also feature 16 pages of liner notes offering new insight on the album through interviews with the band's frontman/guitarist
Long Distance Love Affair: Sheena Easton Box Set Offers 25 Unreleased Tracks
Sheena Easton's latest reissue collaboration with Cherry Red covers familiar ground in a slightly new way. Modern Girl: The Complete EMI Recordings, Vol. 1 is a 5CD set that will cover the bulk of the Scottish singer's first five albums - Take My Time (1981), You Could Have Been with Me (1981), Madness, Money and Music (1982), Best Kept Secret (1983) and the Spanish-language hits album Todo Me Recuerda a Ti (1984) - while also premiering more than two dozen unreleased tracks. The set, available
They'll Be There for You: 10 Record Store Day Exclusives Getting CD Releases
The Record Store Day round-up marches on! After covering in detail the vinyl offerings from Universal Music Group, Legacy Recordings, Rhino Records, BMG, Craft Recordings, Real Gone Music, Omnivore and U.K. labels Cooking Vinyl and Demon Music Group, we've still got a few things to highlight...notably, the work of labels who are serving one of Record Store Day's least-served fans. There are plenty of business and financial reasons why some Record Store Day titles are limited solely to vinyl,
Record Store Day the U.K. Way: British Labels Line Up Vinyl Exclusives
Our ongoing Record Store Day 2025 guide has covered the exclusive titles coming on April 12 from Universal Music Group, Sony's Legacy Recordings, Warner Music's Rhino, BMG and Craft Recordings, as well as titles from favorite indie licensors like Real Gone Music and Omnivore. Next up, we're taking a look at international releases from two of our favorite U.K. labels! British label and artist services hub Cooking Vinyl has planned a half-dozen titles for RSD, running the gamut from stalwarts
My Heart Skips a Beat: Omnivore Premieres Long-Lost Buck Owens Concert
Hey Buckaroos! Omnivore Recordings has unearthed what they're describing as the earliest full concert recording of Buck Owens and his legendary band onstage, and they're bringing it to fans on March 28. The Exciting Sounds of Buck Owens and His Buckaroos Live from Richmond, Virginia, 1964 arrives on vinyl - no CD version has been announced yet - with eighteen cuts from the Bakersfield group. The album captures Owens, Don Rich, Doyle Holly, Tom Brumley, and Willie Cantu at the peak of their